The Road to #Paris

1.

From inside #Bataclan theater, eyewitnesses hearing “screams and gunfire” #ParisAttacks

We used to talk about death, she said. We don’t any more. Why is that?

2.

Silent gunmen killed people in the Bataclan, witness says

He said the right dreams for a man in peril were dreams of peril and all else was the call and languor of death.

3.

Witness describes one shooter as “very young” 18 to 20 who was executing people on the ground. #Bataclan #ParisAttacks

He thought if he lived long enough the world at last would be all lost.

4.

“When I went on the street I saw 20, maybe 25 bodies,” a witness told CNN

He looked around but there was nothing to see. He spoke into a blackness without depth or dimension.

5.

#BREAKING Around 100 dead in attack on Paris concert venue: police

He was close to losing his temper with him and then he realized that he was shaking his head in the dark. Okay, he said. Okay.

6.

French president declares nationwide state of emergency, says country is closing its borders

Nobody wants to be here and nobody wants to leave.

7.

When will we tire of empty symbolism as a response to terrorism?

And we’re carrying the fire.

8.

#ISIS supporters take to Twitter to celebrate attacks in #Paris using hashtag “The Caliphate State Strikes France”

Why do you think we’re going to die?

9.

These tweets are saying Rome, London, DC are next.

The man started to answer. But he didn’t. After a while he said: There are people. There are people and we’ll find them. You’ll see.

This is a found poetry project.

Source: From tweets from the 2015 Bataclan shooting in Paris and Cormac McCarthy's The Road in conversation with each other.

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Carolina VonKampen graduated with a BA in English and history from Concordia University, Nebraska and is completing the University of Chicago’s editing certificate program. She is a freelance copy editor and proofreader, as well as an editor at Capsule Stories. Her work has appeared in So to Speak’s blog, FIVE:2:ONE’s #thesideshow, Moonchild Magazine, Déraciné Magazine, and elsewhere. Her short story “Logan Paul Is Dead” was nominated by Dream Pop Journal for the 2018 Best of the Net. She writes book reviews and blog posts at carolinavonkampen.com and tweets about editing at @carolinamarie_v.