by George Sun
On January 21, 2023, a gunman entered Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park, California, and killed eleven people. The victims were in their 50s, 60s, and 70s. The gunman and many of the victims were Asian. The day was Lunar New Year’s Eve.
i wake up
choking on red horrors.
on TV, pops of gunshots
are fired like toys and across
the street a baby is screaming so
ferally. a dog the color
of bleach is barking. his
barks are mute, their cries
trapped behind stripes and stars.
in monterey park
paper lanterns are cracked
like brick walls,
spiderwebs in each corner wrap
bodies in caskets. an old asian man
and his wife waltz
when death extends a finger
to his heart and holds his hand
so hard until
all that is left are bones.