RNAL#5 (1/06) - The Gunnery

Emptiness in the auditoriumThese lines have been paced by countless dozensJust as the countless lines which scar his faceA mirror is placed upon a hardwood floorAnd powder distributed into a conventional placeHallways are shuffled down like a deck of cardsOpposing opposition does its best to keep on guardBut those who fail are those who will enter aloneInto a long distant call from a long distance phoneSo base the idea on a thought you once hadFrom a caring consultation that made you oddly enough madAnd believe those who claim to love you the mostFor those who endure will come clean and surely boastLove dies down like a candle light flameInto the rivals of a hometown hero’s last gameAnd the radio blares a constant continual blurOf obscenities and speeches, but no one hears a single wordAnd the basis for all life falls from a treeLike the final stanza of a poem, or awakening from a dreamAnd those who don’t believe in the salt in the seaAre those who will become most in the unification of individuality(Tom Fanning ‘06)English Journal 5 (January 2006) 18