Forsaken, by Henry Crawford

American Artist Barnett Newman's Stations of the Cross at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., photograph by Henry Crawford, the poet.

​Forsaken
after Barnet Newman’s Stations of the Cross
 
a pencil falling on a hospice floor
             [why have you forsaken me]
glass exploding from a spinning car window
             [why have you forsaken me]
fear on the faces of an addict’s companions
             [why have you forsaken me]
shoes being tossed in a refugee camp
             [why have you forsaken me]
a soldier remembers as his eyes are closed
             [why have you forsaken me]
reef burned white in a warming sea
             [why have you forsaken me]
gasoline spilling from a helicoptered yacht
             [why have you forsaken me]
naked brown skin on a city street sleeping
             [why have you forsaken me]
porpoise snagged in a fishing boat net
             [why have you forsaken me]
choking on the dust of a coal miner’s lung
             [why have you forsaken me]
toddler on the floor with an unlocked gun
             [why have you forsaken me]
belt buckle father coming up the stairs
             [why have you forsaken me]

Henry Crawford

Henry Crawford is a poet whose work has appeared in several journals and online publications including Boulevard, Copper Nickel, Folio, Borderline Press and The Offbeat. He was a 2016 Pushcart nominee. His first collection of poetry, American Software, was published in 2017 by CW Books. His poem "Blackout" was just selected by the Southern Humanities Review as a finalist in the Jake Adam York Witness Poetry Contest. His website is HenryCrawfordPoetry.com