Morning Shooting

It was as if by populating that scene
With busy police and men in white suits
Crawling over ground like wounded larvae,
As if by sticking up taut yellow tape
They could control the space
Like some kind of boxing match
Where a ring-side bell
Could take a firm grip of time
And bully bullets out of wounds
And push back the migration
Of darkened blood—
And perhaps they could medicate the loss,
Return some sense of control
So that all would be as it was
When we came back
On our school bus later that day.

Mel McMahon is the author of two volumes of poetry: Out of Breath (Summer Palace Press) 2016 and Beneath Our Feet (Abbey Press) 2018. His work has been broadcast on television and radio and has appeared in various print forms. His poems have also been nominated for the Forward
Poetry Prize. You can find Mel on Twitter @sleighforsummer.