The school year starts (incredibly) this week, and I think I am relieved to have written this poem before we begin. It does not absolve me from talking about it with my students or enable easier conversations about our world. But as with most situations, once I have reflected poetically only then can I communicate or dialogue about my feelings on a situation with my mind and heart working together. And true to my process from March when I was writing a poem a day and posting the work on this blog, today’s poem was composed, revised, and formatted this afternoon in the last two hours.  I hope it opens something in you, or gives a new angle by which to enter the conflict for yourself. I hope it stands as a poem of witness for the atrocities and peace.