his hair was dyed red

the world watches Holmes
sit “dazed” in the courtroom,
with each mainstream media
monolith
churning out the sound bites
referencing his eyes & his
red hair---
the picture that goes viral is
of course the one that can
be likened most to something
out of Heath-Ledger-as-The-
Joker-101,
visually answering questions
for the people at home,
because we all know that
individuals who dye their hair
red are megalomaniacs who
will more than likely, eventually,
inevitably, order bullet proof
clothing, a gas mask & 6, 000
rounds of ammo, with the
“calculated & deliberate”
intent to walk into a movie
theater & blast everyone into
oblivion.

and when every talking head
from Oates to Obama, comments
on the massacre, we watch them
stumble over the responsibility
that this culture has to own up to
when something like this happens---
rather, they weigh it all on the
shoulders of one red haired
young person, whilst hugging
the loved ones, the family of those
whose members were killed.

subtly inactive in regards to the
actual problem at hand,
mumbling things about finding
better ways to “take every step
possible to ensure the safety of
all of our people,” all the words
that flow from mr. hope & change’s
mouth add up to no actual veering from
the status quo in the future & the mum
mum hush hush gun industry knows
this, giving the big man a nod.

instead, we look with inspiring eyes at
Obama, when he tries to gain a
collective sense of sympathy from the
crowd, when remarking that “we may
never understand what leads anybody
to terrorize their fellow human beings
like this”…
and as we shake our heads &
hug ourselves, just hoping that such
violence never affects us directly,
or harms our own families/friends in such
a manner,
we all turn a blind eye to the people
that our military has massacred throughout
the more than 200 years that our country has
existed &
we turn a blind eye to the violence enacted
upon the citizen’s here at home, who have
suffered & continue to suffer
at the hands of the police & state
officials,
whilst the paranoid & terrified hicks
out in the middle of bumblefuck
no man’s land,
clench their rifles & their pistols,
never having been threatened by anyone,
anywhere, for any reason at all,
thinking that the whole world is out to
get them,
swearing that they will never move a
muscle in the direction of progress.