Pink Backpack

“Clinging to Her Drowning ‘Mama,’ A Little Girl Survives the Raging Flood”
–New York Times, August 30, 2017

Red stop sign 
barely higher than the water.

Yellow slicker in rescue boat
Searching flooded streets.

Green sedan submerged.

These pictures, posted 
on my phone and TV
should sweep my emotions
faster than torrential rain.

Yet my mind 
is tethered to Texas
by a story 
not photographed. 

Pink backpack 
spotted
from a distance.

Little girl clinging
to a face-down body.

Dead mother
floating as a raft 
to save her beloved child.

-Jacqueline Jules