Chekhov's Gun

Some things you never get over.

The Spring 2025 Issue (#53) of Paterson Literary Review, includes my poem "Chekhov's Gun." Many thanks to the Review's editor, Maria Mazziotti Gillan, for including my poem in this gorgeous book that includes so many fine poets. You can order a copy at https://www.patersonliteraryreview.com/issues.

Chekhov’s Gun

By Diana Dinverno

It’s after Sunday breakfast, and the children, still

sticky from pancake syrup, dodge the dog, laugh

so hard they collapse into gasping, wiggly balls.

I open the paper, look for the comics,

now always hidden within advertising

for a sporting goods store. I wouldn’t mind

sleeping bags, hiking boots, tents, but      

there’s a full page devoted to guns in pops

of color—pistols, semi-automatic rifles,

shotguns, some with collapsible stocks,

boxes of ammo, magazines with muscle,

designed for the quick release of twenty shots.

Chekhov said if a gun

appears in a story,

it must be fired later in the plot.

I’ve contacted the paper, the store, said these ads—

Guns for Only $189.99!—shouldn’t shroud

The Family Circus, Garfield, Pearls Before Swine.

Of course, there’s been no response.

I imagine the horror,

the terrible—pop, pop, pop—heard

by Chekhov’s seagull before it dropped

from the sky, the screams, the shattering staccato

heard by twenty Sandy Hook first graders.

I peel back the images, remind myself

Chekhov wrote in a different time, used a trigger—

just a device—to foreshadow tragedy to come.

My maple-scented children follow

the dog, jump into my lap, each

small body collapsing against mine.