The Worst Massacre in US History

I knew

That we had to write about the tragedy today

It is the worst mass murders in US history

Poor Mfundo’s mother,

Who watches the international news

To make sure that Mfundo is safe

What must she think of America now?

49 people massacred at a night club in Orlando,

A gay nightclub, but straight and gay died together,

This is what comes of the hateful rhetoric,

From the presidential candidates,

And the politicians,

And the local people.

This is what comes when we mandate,

Who can use which bathroom,

When bullying is allowed and not called out,

When we have a country where hatred and prejudice

Are part of the land of the free.

In Chicago, my hometown,

A mother of 4 loses the last of her children,

All 4 gunned down in their own neighborhood

For no reason.

This is what happens,

When life isn’t cherished,

And words are unrestrained,

And guns are easily bought,

And used.

This is the worst massacre of innocent lives,

In US history,

But as we gasp and try to make sense of this

Senseless bloodbath,

Still they were gay,

And our state’s Lieutenant Governor,

Tweets that you reap what you deserve,

But because of the backlash now says that it wasn’t

About the massacre,

But it was.

Just a year ago,

I was so hopeful,

When my marriage was confirmed,

And our 40 years together was recognized legally,

In every state in this land.

But I misunderstood,

That the prejudice and the hatred,

Was still there.

I misunderstood,

That America is still not America for me,

And I’m not even sure that as Langston Hughes once said,

That it could ever be.