ACCUSTOMED TO DEAD KIDS (sung to the Tune of Lerner & Lowe’s “Accustomed To Her Face” from My Fair Lady.)

by Alexis Rhone Fancher

1.

I’ve grown accustomed to dead kids,

they almost make the day begin.

I’ve grown accustomed to the latest

locked down campus on TV,

the thoughts, the prayers,

the no one really cares

are second nature to me now,

like breathing out and breathing in.

I’ve grown accustomed to the sound of

gunfire zinging through the air,

the kid who shoots his classmates in his

impotent despair.

I’ve grown accustomed to their screams,

the ending of their dreams,

accustomed to dead kids.

2.

I’ve grown accustomed to the sobs,

of parents frantic as they call.

I’ve grown accustomed to the terror

when their children don’t respond,

the pleas, the cries,

unsaid goodbyes

are second nature to me now,

like breathing out and breathing in.

I’ve grown accustomed to the anguish,

when they learn their child is dead,

hit in the aorta of their heart

or in their head.

I’ve grown accustomed to the thought:

guns matter, kids do not,

accustomed to dead kids.

3.

I’ve grown accustomed to the lies,

the gutless thoughts and hollow prayers.

I’ve grown accustomed to the rants

the NRA and no we cant’s,

the maimed, the dead,

the platitudes instead

are second nature to me now,

like breathing out and breathing in.

I’ve grown accustomed to deceit,

- blame backpacks, Ritalin, or God,

never will the truth be told,

it’s just too goddamn hard.

I’ve grown accustomed to the game,

politicians with no shame,

accustomed to dead kids.

* * * * *

“Accustomed to Dead Kids” was first published in Glass: Poets Respond (2019).

L.A poet Alexis Rhone Fancher is published in Best American Poetry, Rattle, Poetry East, 

Hobart, VerseDaily, American Journal of Poetry, Duende, Plume, Diode, Wide Awake: 

Poets of Los Angeles, and elsewhere. She’s the author of five published poetry collections, most 

recently, Junkie Wife (Moon Tide Press, 2018), and The Dead Kid Poems (KYSO Flash 

Press, 2019). EROTIC: New & Selected, publishes in 2020 from New York Quarterly. Her 

photographs are published worldwide, including River Styx, and the covers of Pithead Chapel,

Heyday, and Witness. A multiple Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee, Alexis is poetry 

editor of Cultural Weekly. www.alexisrhonefancher.com