I shoot

I shoot people

I shoot people who are happy
people who are sad
people who are indifferent

I shoot people in the raw
I shoot them at night
I shoot them when they run from me
these people are the hardest

But it doesn't really matter,
my job is simply to shoot

Sometimes I get paid a lot to shoot a person
my job already done by the time they hear me,
after I freeze their life forever 

My shots are justified in the name of war
of peace
of education

My shots lead to grief for some
and joy for others.
My shots penetrate
the hearts of millions
every day

I am a camera.

[Written in response to being chased off public land by a farmer in Nevada.
I was shooting a herd of cattle with a gorgeous mountain backdrop.
He thought my camera was a gun.]

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