Dear Editor ,
I have received a request from an author/artist that is attempting to reach out to our Oxford community and the families most affected by the tragedy at the high school. She lives in Connecticut and has borne the pain of the Sandy Hook school shootings.
Would you please consider printing the tribute sketch and poem that she has forwarded to me. Thank you.
Sincerely, Cheryl Smith

Another…
by Sandra (Sandy) Mattucci

I struggle to place the
word on paper.
Another __________
I do NOT wish to speak it aloud!
Something ‘within’ breaks
like a dam unclogged from a river
—it flows.

Another SHOOTING
Another Shoot-ing
another shooting

For too long, in my seemingly short life,
I have listened. Sometimes, I haphazardly tuned outindividuals who spoke out about laws that focused on weaponry.

NOW, I hear the arguments, the jokes
unfurled…please, this is NO
laughing matter.

I hoped, prayed when the VOICES
of children rose like a phoenix rising from the ashes
addressing their concerns~~~
their cries would be heard.

The voices of children, the children,
OUR children
their future!

Instead, BIG business prevailed.
Is there an answer?
What is the correct question?

They are ‘in’ us—each of them…
MADISYN BALDWIN
TATE MYRE
HANA ST JULIANA
JUSTIN SHILLING

We must respond for them!
Is this sad for you to read?
It is breaking open my heart
to pen these thoughts.

BUT— Love
Love
Love
brings us again and again to a cave…
no room in any inn
—a child born to ignite the World.

We are here to LIGHT the world…
Called to do even greater things.
Can we drop to our knees?

Are we able to create a lasting story
where another life is saved
because we ‘release’ all
that would hold us victimized
and rise to leave a future
where our children our mindful?

Let us consciously
choose love
so that our children
are able to live on.