Shooter Drill by TJ Reynolds

I am a teacher

And I am packing

All this fear

Anger

Confusion

Hypocrisy

Into my psyche

As I try to explain why

We are practicing hiding silently

Away from the windows and doors

In the dark


Kept in the dark
A teacher unable to answer the question
The question
asked by a five year old: Why would someone want to kill me?

Because there is no answer that makes any kind of sense to a 5 year old
Or any kind of sense to a 45 year old
But it's not even time for questions
It's time for silence
Cuz if you're not quiet
You and all your friends and Mrs. Nice

Will be silenced

It's time for silence
This is just what everybody has to do
No question if this drilling does more harm
Practicing piling up furniture against the door
While a cop walked up and down the halls simulating gunshots
Like a fucked sonar getting closer and closer
A desk is not meant to be a barricade
It's meant to be a portal
A bookshelf has a bigger purpose
Than a bullet proof vest

Anything to slow down the shooter
While the police swoop in
And only save their own kids
If even

They want me
The teacher
To do what they can't
They want me to kill that kid, that boy, that man, that I tried so hard to save
That we tried so hard to throw away
We told them get some help
But they were waitlisted
They recommended medicine and hiked the price
They said use screens less and put school online

They want me strapped
Like my bank account
From buying my own supplies

This is not the kind of piece I want to carry
My arms are for making, not destroying
Our safety is off

We are all in the gun lobby
Of Hotel America
Eviction a bullet away
We save time by having
Mass shootings at Mass
Our obsession passed from Father
To son
To holy shit this runs deep

But don't worry sweet children

Soon we will never make a sounds again