The photograph

It is the only photograph

he has of her, his mother,

and not a real photograph but

instead a poor reproduction

printed in a cheap newspaper

the day after she died

(“unidentified woman found

shot to death”) in a bullet

storm that passes for gang

justice. He looks at the body

in the photograph, bullet-spackled,

the photograph folded and creased,

fading, tucked within small plastic.

He can’t remember her voice but

he can remember the sound

of the bullets.

Photograph by George Hodan via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission.