Its work completed
the bolt-action rifle rested
and admired the view of Dealey Plaza.
Shell casings, cardboard boxes,
and the book that steadied the rifle’s barrel
shared the space.
It was not Dick and Jane, Basic Algebra,
or PE for High School Students
that helped gun down hope.
Nor was it The Manchurian Candidate,
Our Man in Havana, or Seven Days in May.
Some blamed Karl Marx but
Police had turned back The Communist Manifesto
from the state line decades ago.
No, it was Capitalism and Freedom
by Milton Friedman. Economics as apology for the powerful
dialed in the scope for range, the elevation of privilege,
and wind speed of public opinion. Molded of ridicule
and exaggeration, the bullet flew straight and true
to strike its target seventeen years later.
The gunshot echoes down the decades
in tirades from politicians
with voices like chainsaws in redwood forests.
Stop listening!
. . . . . Stop!
–Poem by Jon Wesick
–Foreground photo by Manuel EstheimSneakers Store | Sneakers Nike