State of the District 2004 (draft)
for Jahkema Princess Hansen (14) and James Richardson (17)

there's nothing new about this story
nothing new about parents rushing to a
DC public school where one student has been shot,

another killed. we know that beefs lead
to tragedies, that the coldly inspired
find ways around security checkpoints.

sadly enough, the shock seems familiar
as again, the victims' essential goodness
and potential could not shield them

from the bullets, or stop the blood, or
prevent the screaming friends' trauma, or
help us hope this won't happen again

especially when the next day cops stop a fourteen
year old child driving a car who carries a handgun
and a mac-11 with a full clip tucked in his sweatshirt

while the mayor, school board president, council
members and school officials sit in Ballou's gym
fielding questions from residents whose grief-stricken

pleas embody the real State of the District