Poetry Report: Christopher Lee

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“They wanted to be great warriors,
but they weren’t in a war”

The killing of Christopher Lane by three "bored" teenagers was senseless. The act of trying to make sense of it, caused me to look at the myths of our media culture that are directed at our young men every day.

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The Legend That Doesn't Exist


They wanted to be great warriors,
but they weren't in a war.
So, they weren't warriors
and they weren't great.

The three had experienced
millions dying
on television
but they weren't experienced.

These non-experienced nothings
who hadn't done anything
found a gun. The gun was
dark metal and real.

They all wanted to be in love
with the same maiden,
so they could fight over her beauty
but the maiden didn't exist.

So they weren't banished from
the kingdom
that didn't exist
for an epic battle between them
because they had done nothing.

So they took the gun
which was real and drove off
in a car which was real
and began aiming at real people

and it wasn't long until
they found an actual athlete
running down an actual street
and then they actually killed him.

Then they finally felt real,
but the reality was a horror show
from which there was no escape,
not even in their dreams.

And the country was sad for the fallen,
but not for very long, because this
should be a warning of legend
but they don't write those anymore.

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