The Ekphrastic Review
  • The Ekphrastic Review
  • The Ekphrastic Challenges
    • Challenge Archives
  • Ebooks
  • Prizes
  • Book Shelf
    • TERcets Podcast
  • The Ekphrastic Academy
  • Give
  • Submit
  • Contact
  • About/Masthead

What to Do With Our Guns, by Morgan Ray

7/8/2023

1 Comment

 
Picture
St. Francis of the Guns, by Beniamino Bufano (USA, b. Italy) 1968. Photo by Rob Corder, via Flickr. (CC BY-NC 2.0)

What to Do With Our Guns
 
First, disassemble them, 
saw off the tips, remove the clips,
unhinge the hammers.
Now give the parts to people
who make art, like Al Farrow
who created a divine rendition
using guns and spent ammunition, 
a gothic cathedral
with barrel columns, 
spires of shotgun shells, 
butt ends of casings arranged
as a rose glass window. 
 
Yes, give these weapons to artists, I say, 
let them play, force on us 
a new perspective, provoke
awe and inspire reflection.

Melt that metal down
into something more profound

like Bufano did in the 60s,
1,968 guns turned in, reforged
to make St. Francis, nine feet tall,
outstretched arms in peaceful greetings,
robes inlaid with mosaics faces
of murdered American leaders.
Install him on a college campus
as guardian monk, bulwark
against all this madness.
 
What if we gave up our guns  
to make metal-toed boots 
for shoeless refugees, 
or cooking pots to simmer
a stew for the starving 
or exchanged the bullet lead 
for pencils instead? 
Let’s use our weapons to build 
a plane shaped like an angle, charter it
for a return trip, bring back
our untimely departed. 
 
Morgan Ray

Morgan Ray was born in Utah. She lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for four decades then returned to Salt Lake City just in time to witness the impending environmental disaster of the disappearing Great Salt Lake. She lives near Emigration Gap, a split in the mountains where pioneers entered the valley. She’s sure she would have been a lousy pioneer, questioning the authority of anyone who thought it was a smart idea to settle next to a salty lake. She has two poems about to be published by Dos Gatos Press in, Unknotting the Line: The Poetry in Prose and is about to release her second book, Unsolicited Greetings, a collection of post card poems.

Picture
Santo Guerro, by Al Farrow (USA) 2007. Photo by Rob Corder. (CC BY-NC 2.0)
1 Comment
Kirk Hinshaw link
7/8/2023 07:15:21 pm

Congratulations & thank you for sharing your poetry with me.

Your writing always inspires me. Just started two pieces with the gun theme. Will pass along images when I finish.

Take care. Be safe...Giant hugs for you.

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    The Ekphrastic Review
    Picture
    Current Prompt
    Picture
    COOKIES/PRIVACY

    This website uses marketing and tracking technologies. Opting out of this will opt you out of all cookies, except for those needed to run the website. Note that some products may not work as well without tracking cookies.

    Opt Out of Cookies
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Join us: Facebook and Bluesky
    @ekphrasticreview.



    ​
    ​Archives
    ​

    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015

    Lorette C. Luzajic [email protected] 

  • The Ekphrastic Review
  • The Ekphrastic Challenges
    • Challenge Archives
  • Ebooks
  • Prizes
  • Book Shelf
    • TERcets Podcast
  • The Ekphrastic Academy
  • Give
  • Submit
  • Contact
  • About/Masthead