He shot me
seemed unneeded to be said
except to say

but
he shot me
gathered back up the buckshot

(not to say
it could be put back
but) saying it
was to say

a world existed before,
preferable to this one.
Witness me. I do not consent.

He shot me—
a gesture,
2 spaces 8 letters

The only words
of my great-grandmother
ever printed
in the paper.