Here I Am

Nineteen without a job
No girlfriend, no purpose
Just anger and hate

He wore a red bandana
“No controversy” blazoned in white
Yet all he really wanted was someone to fight.

Basketball in the school yard
With chain link nets
Getting high all night, sleeping til light.

Believed in memes
Sent by teens
Dressed as experts, naked as babies.

Needing to be something; anything
To make him a man
To let others see.

Found himself a gun
With too many rounds
Found himself a crowd

“Here I am”
“Here I am,” he screamed
Shooting his ego into the hearts of the innocent

He never got to see
The headline he dreamed
“Just another day in the USA”