Crucified in Watertown

I wrote this as a response to a photograph of a victim of the Boston Bombings, and to the reception of the photo.  To all those who died in the bombing, may you rest in peace.

Crucified In Watertown

Red streamers stream the sky

from the fission of his legs,

and he waves and waves

and shouts for help

to anyone who hears,

as he, raised up to fall, rises and falls

held in hands of water

crowned

for a minute,

head in a flash,

--ode on a viral photograph--

till he’s sunk in the gutter

aface a mix of rainwater and residue

sifting through a drain--

left to his devices

to lift himself alone,

while the world looks on with weeping eyes

and asks its photograph:

“How have I forsaken you?”