The First One in a Long Time: A Poem in “Boudin”

Foster’s poem “They Come, Growling” was published yesterday in the October 2024 issue of Boudin, a literary magazine housed at McNeese State University in Louisiana. The issue is a “Creature Feature” whose theme is monsters and related subjects.

This is Foster’s first poem to be published in eleven years. The last one appeared in the Birmingham, Alabama-based Steel Toe Review in 2013. This poem centers on Foster’s experiences being a teacher during the era of school shootings, with a complex set of factors affecting our ability to understand what is happening: legal and privacy concerns when dealing with minors, public safety concerns from students and parents, law enforcement’s need to withhold information while they investigate, and the news media that creates narratives by sharing limited information. Not only are these situations frightening for those involved directly, but also for anyone who learns that another school shooting has occurred. As a cultural phenomenon, the “school shooter” has become a modern monster in the same way that creatures like vampires and the wendigo appeared in the past as vague but dangerous threats lying in wait for unsuspecting victims.