our thoughts and prayers

Our thoughts and prayers

are with the victims and their loved ones,

all those who live

in the land of

back-to-school sales and

back-to-school shootings,

back-to-back and

coast-to-coast,

sea to bloody sea,

one nation of

two parties:

the dead and the deadly.

Our thoughts and prayers

are with the movers and shakers

in this time

of great need.

We give thanks

for the manufacturer

of bullet-proof backpacks;

we ask God

to remind the store manager

to keep them in stock,

and to raise up many stock

market investors

so every child

in America has access

to a safe backpack

when they go back to school this year

(breaking news:

shares of the backpacks

are sure to go through

the roof like bullets, though

prayers just seem to bounce off the ceiling).

Our thoughts and prayers

are with our leaders

and we give thanks for the prayers

that have already been answered:

God has granted them enough serenity

to stand by and do nothing,

enough courage

to score political points

when it suits them

and enough wisdom

to get lots of retweets.

America, the beautiful,

we pray for thee.

Like amber waves of grain,

our thoughts and prayers swell

only when the moment is ripe.

Our thoughts and prayers

are for the stalks and stocks

and stalkers and stockers.

Our thoughts and prayers

are like talking and talking,

and talking and talking.

Without resolve,

our thoughts and prayers

are a mockery.

………………………..

our thoughts and prayers

by troy cady

mourning two more mass shootings

in El Paso, TX and Dayton, OH

on August 3, 2019