Rusty.

By Hari B Parisi.

Learned to shoot a gun in my twenties / on a dusty range, in the blister of summer.

Popping Violence by Betirri Bengtson.

Learned to shoot a gun in my twenties

on a dusty range, in the blister of summer.

Learned to bear backfire and brute

slam of the hammer exploding powder.

 

Was a good shot, took pride in my aim—

projectile puncturing the heart of paper

target, grip of sculpted steel, smooth sex

of it in my girl hands. It’s been a long

 

stretch since—sits in a drawer now, empty

chambered, dust coiled in its hollow barrel.

Anymore, I struggle to pencil my eyebrows,

can’t read fabric content on clothing tags,

 

don’t recall where the ammo is kept, should

there come a time, should there be a reason.

The Blood Pudding – June 1, 2023

Hari B Parisi’s (formerly Hari Bhajan Khalsa) poems have been published in numerous journals, including Poet Lore, Peregrine, and The Bookends Review. She is the author of three volumes of poetry, most recently, She Speaks to the Birds at Night While They Sleep, winner of the 2020 Tebot Bach Clockwise Chapbook Contest. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband.

Artwork: Betirri is an international artist recognized primarily by his signature paintings of a pioneered style in bodiless football rivalries.You can find more about him here.