The Epidemic of Shrink-Ray-Gun Violence Plaguing Our Schools Must End
By Pedro Iniguez
This poem originally appeared in Star*Line #45.3, 2022
Their atoms dust the floors
of every school in the country;
those frightened children
we can no longer console.
Their cries have faded
into inaudible wavelengths
inside a quantum world where
hugs and spacetime both cease to exist.
They have dissolved into mere fractions
of their corporeal selves,
their particles swept into dustpans
and mopped into oblivion.
Blame those new blasters inundating the market,
stowed inside scores of scruffy backpacks;
the preferred choice of disgruntled
circuit-heads throughout the nation.
As parents, we stand before you
requesting prompt legislation to end
the rampant wave of shrink-ray-gun violence
endemic to our culture.
We beg you.
Think of the children,
screaming
beneath the soles of your shoes.
What Pedro Iniquez has to say about this poem:
Under the guise of science-fiction, speculative poetry is a great vehicle for social commentary about the terrors plaguing society today. In this instance, the terrors of school shootings. Here, shrink-ray-guns zap children into subatomic particles, basically hurling them into a realm of non-existence. Sure, the technology is different but the result is the same: Parents will never be able to hold their children again. And that is terrifying, no matter what era you live in.
About Pedro Iniquez
Pedro Iniguez is a Mexican-American Bram Stoker, Elgin, and Dwarf Stars Award-winning science-fiction and horror writer from Los Angeles. He has also been a Rhysling finalist and Puschart Prize and Best of the Net nominee.
He is the author of MEXICANS ON THE MOON: SPECULATIVE POETRY FROM A POSSIBLE FUTURE, FEVER DREAMS OF A PARASITE, ECHOES AND EMBERS: SPECULATIVE STORIES, SYNTHETIC DAWNS & CRIMSON DUSKS, the SF novel CONTROL THEORY, and his debut picture book, THE FIB.
Apart from leading writing workshops and speaking at several colleges, he has also been a sensitivity reader and has ghostwritten for award-winning apps and online clients.
