they run around like pirates “arg!”, “ahoy!”, “treasure!” paper hats and eye patches askew, winking and squinting, play fighting while together mapping treasure. how come some children are only ever captured by imagination, while others are captured by the realest of terrors? oh that perils were only always minor setbacks, on a crayon crinkled map, playfully overcome - instead of deadly serious, written in crimson… (at the store, at school, at a parade… anywhere, everywhere) go through the motions of playing – smiling, laughing, creating, charting courses throughout the seven seas, joining little pitter patter feet, making joyful exclamations. inwardly navigate dark stormy waters - the heartache, the fear, the questions, the rage… the heaviness. how much longer? how long until all of our children are safe? how long until all can go out, to learn and play and work and imagine… to live? how long until all can come home to loving arms and be tucked in to cozy beds to rest? how long until all can then awaken and do it all again today, and tomorrow? //in response to the uniquely american problem of gun violence and mass shootings (buffalo, uvalde, highland park… 2022)//