Question

read lines 20 - 22 of the poem. the phrase the empty desks of twenty children is most likely an allusion to the — loss of children who are killed in school shootings high rates of students who drop out of public schools number of children who are forced to work at a young age low attendance of students who have too far to travel all of us as vital as the one light we move through, the same light on blackboards with lessons for the day: equations to solve, history to question, or atoms imagined. the \i have a dream\ we keep dreaming. or the impossible vocabulary of sorrow that wont explain the empty desks of twenty children marked absent

Explanation:

The phrase "the empty desks of twenty children" suggests a tragic loss. School - shootings often result in the death of children, leaving their desks empty. The other options like high dropout rates, child - labor, or low attendance due to travel do not imply such a sudden and tragic absence as strongly as school - shootings.

Answer:

loss of children who are killed in school shootings