People Did Not Like It Here
I guess just about everyone has said his good-by now to Kurt Vonnegut. He looked and acted the part of a crazy uncle but the man could write. I like these closing lines from his poem called “Requiem”:
When the last living thing
has died on account of us,
how poetical it would be
if Earth could say,
in a voice floating up
perhaps
from the floor
of the Grand Canyon,
“It is done.”
People did not like it here.
One who obviously did not like it here was the sick fuck who killed 32 people in Virginia. My thoughts go out to the families of the students who thought their sons and daughters were enjoying a spring day on a sleepy Virginia campus only to get the most horrific call a parent could ever imagine. Or worse, to turn on the television and see it happening in real time. Brings back memories of Columbine. I will never understand why a suicidal maniac can’t just turn the gun on himself and spare the innocents. Even Vonnegut suffered depression and attempted suicide. But I’ll bet he never, even in his darkest moments, considered taking a classroom of strangers with him. It’s not only the loss of young life that’s tragic, but the potential for future accomplishment each represented. We’ve all been robbed of that. It makes me furious.
PS From the sublime... any of you in the Denver area, stop by the Book Mall, 32 Broadway, Denver, on Sunday April 22 at 3 p.m. for a dose of fantasy and fun. The triple threat event features Mario, Richelle Mead and moi. Hope you can make it!