NVN Extra: Lewiston — 2 Poems
"NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME" by Sister Lou Ella Hickman and "STOPPING" by Gus Peterson
NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME
by Sister Lou Ella Hickman
for those who were killed in lewiston, maine
by a man with an AR style gun
Just months before this week’s mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine’s Legislature considered three major bills to tighten gun restrictions: one to require criminal background checks for gun purchases, another to create a 72-hour waiting period before someone could take possession of a gun after purchasing it and a third to outlaw modifications that make semiautomatic weapons more deadly. All three bills were defeated in the Maine Senate by sizable margins. Maine, a largely blue state where Democrats control both chambers of the State Legislature and the governorship, has a long history of resisting gun control measures. —The New York Times, October 26, 2023
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we begin this celebration in the name of my right my right my right amen our response to today’s reading of the second amendment page 6 in your hymnal hail to thee, oh AR-15 we will sing all 25 verses after which we will recite our litany of thanksgiving now let us rise and say together for no background checks we are thankful for our mutual support so needed in our holy culture of guns against those who deny our rights we are thankful for being called to be a member to this sacred society we are thankful for being able to sleep at night we are thankful for all those who sell AR-15s for this we are truly thankful for $$$$ we are very thankful please join me after this service for coffee donuts and a short meeting concerning future recruitment plans now let us say amen to the final blessing as we go to serve AR-15
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Sister Lou Ella has a master’s in theology from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio and is a former teacher and librarian. She is a certified spiritual director as well as a poet and writer. Her poems have appeared in numerous magazines such as America, US Catholic, Commonweal, The Christian Century, Presence, Prism, and several anthologies. She was a Pushcart nominee in 2017 and 2020. Five poems from her book, she: robed and words, set to music by James Lee III were performed on May 11, 2021. The soloist was the opera singer Susanna Phillips, principal clarinetist Anthony McGill of the New York Philharmonic and Grammy® nominated pianist Mayra Huang. The arrangement was part of a concert held at Y92 in New York City. The group of songs is entitled “Chavah’s Daughters Speak.” Another concert was held in Cleveland, Ohio on March 28, 2023. The soloist was Elena Perroni.
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SHOOTING
by Gus Peterson
after “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost
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Whose will this was I think I know. Their city high, on a high hill though. So I do not expect they as yet fear what’s swept beneath the snow. Their little minds must think it queer, our talk of stopping death before death nears. Between lacquered lane, a slice of pie October’s moon shone, darkest of the year. Can we deafen profit’s jingled, quarterly ring? Make ourselves anew? Cease blood’s sing? However passing’s bullet passes us by… one way, one path to changing things. Step into these woods, lonely and deep. Promises unkept, promises to keep. Oh, how many rounds before sleep? Too much snow for me to sleep.
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Gus Peterson lives in Maine.