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Debris

                           “Harrowing photos spark worldwide anguish…”

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Brought in by the tide—red shirt,

Tiny black shoes—he lies face down

Among the pebbles at the beach.

 

The river current deposited them

Among the reeds, the little girl’s tiny 

Arm around her father’s neck—

 

They lie face down in the shallow water.

No one could escape from ruin

To ruin: Debris of drone or gang war,

 

The blind insanity of power,

Flotsam in the world’s indifference.

We watch guilty or contrite,

 

All are perpetrators or victims,

Stunned at the universal madness.

The Instagram moment.

 

 

Marne Kilates

27 June 2019

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Tragedy.jpg

NOTE: The drowned three-year Syrian boy was Alan Kurdi, found on a beach in the Mediterranean Sea near Turkey in 2015. Their boat capsized shortly after leaving. They were bound for Canada to seek asylum. The drowned father-and-daughter were Oscar Alberto Martinez and his 23-month-old daughter, Angie Valeria, from El Salvador. They were trying to cross the Rio Grande to the United States to seek asylum, in 2019.

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