Dancing Bear

Dancing Bear is of Chippewa and Swedish ancestry. He lives in San Jose, Ca. His poems and art have been published in many journals, including New York Quarterly, Zuzu’s Petals Quarterly, Slipstream, Pearl and the Rio Grande Review. He has been the editor of a number of books and chapbooks. Dancing Bear currently works for Toth Press as Managing Editor. His latest chapbook is _Disjointed Constellations_. He can be reached at dancingbear@rocketmail.com.

Gun Songs

1.

wait

movement

aim sight

lock on

safety released

finger

wait

2.

squint of accuracy

squeeze

silencer

shot

3.

the bullet sings a death summons

through a background

chorus of rhetoric

~ guns don’t kill people ~

~ people kill… ~

people die

Death answers the call

4.

it’s all about delivery

5.

in munitions factories

the names of the living

are stamped into bullets

small letters -blood on brass fire

6.

we’re just hunting

no. really

7.

drive-by hunters

cruise the hoods

--the next kill waits

an antelope in headlights

- on a front porch

- walking to school

- in a hooptie with his homey

- on the steps of a library

- in a rival tribe’s crib

8.

the gun is a temple

give thanks

Allah …

Buddha be praised

Christ…

9.

the gun is truth

at the range

you aim it at the silhouettes

righteous holes of light appear in zones

where a body should be

10.

south central liquor store

american dreamers splayed out

in chalk outlines

register drawer hungry

mouth open and empty

11.

~ my gun is bigger ~

12.

the raven black guns

caw in the night

nevermore

-- maybe --

but it is a lost song

13.

they came out of the western dream

raven truths blazing

~ draw ~

blood of dust

rusty sun on the west

golden state of

sacred violence

priests in the western image box

nod their heads approvingly

~ go forth my children and ~

kill

14.

gun is god

spread the gospel

15.

freely speak the protected right to handguns

the western brainwash box says so

no cops

no gangsters

no cowboys

no indians

…take away the guns

and clockwork orange is left

16.

the crossfire of children is a sacrifice

to a smiling gun god

killer children --

death row tv stars

17.

we the people

reserve

the right to bear armed children

18.

the gun is an end

a way out

an exit

not unlike a wound

Dancing Bear