US Mass Shootings, 1982-2019: Data From Mother Jones’ Investigation

oh what a tangled mess we’ve weaved
now a nation grieves

we offer prayers, while asking why
to an empty sky

raining terror down on our heads
as we count the dead

we’ll blame some other foe instead
of looking at our own dark hearts
admitting that we played a part
now a nation grieves to an empty sky as we count the dead

~kat

The Oviellejo is an Old Spanish verse form (derived from ovillo, a ball of yarn). A stanza consists of 10 lines, with a rhyme scheme of AABBCCCDDC. The second line of each rhyme scheme, Line 2,4,6, is short line of up to 5 syllables. The last line is a “redondilla,” a “little round” that collects all three of the short lines.