Silent flowers

So many were the dead
.     Print the news in red sorrow
.             of dying and injured lying there
.      In mixed moaning clumps
We know the name of the killer
.      one homophobic man one gun,
.            Don’t know the loves crumpled on the floor
Noise and silence
.     never to hear the sirens
.            The many who did not
Pulse, where the gowns were stained red
.          The Gay club Latin dances were over
The flowers stand in for all of them
outside the empty dance hall

Silence
Then flowers began to gather
outside the bloody dance hall
iris, poppies, spring pink roses,
bougainvillaea.
The flowers are silent.

Kent Bowker
June, 16, 2016
49 died, 50 wounded
2 AM on June 12, 2016