Love Sonnet (Broken into By America) in the First Year of Our Marriage
       

Police shot and killed 1,165 Americans in 2018.

5,000 American veterans committed suicide with a gun in 2018.

My wife blowing invisible love notes across her noodle soup. Dancing, my wife

in sunshine, in sandals, in cutoff shorts, in sunshades, in our living room. My wife.

Police shot and killed 215 black Americans in 2018.

22,000 Americans committed suicide with a gun in 2018.

Maroon ribbon on a Saturday afternoon in my wife's hair.

Behind the yellow bicycle, like birds, my wife's brown hair.

Americans shot and killed 3,804 Afghan civilians in 2018.

Americans shot 3,943 American kids in 2018.

Our country of marriage. My love. My wife. A bright lozenge.

The words rolling along my tongue like a watermelon lozenge.

My wife and I and 207 glasses of chardonnay on Sunday evenings in 2018.

In 2018, Americans shot and killed 11,984 American people.

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Copyright © 2021 Ephraim Scott Sommers All rights reserved
from Someone You Love Is Still Alive
Jacar Press
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission