A Post For Someone I Didn’t Know

Image: 'Final Girl' - Max Messenger

Bethany Belkowski

Just a tap away,

you lay dead. On my feed,

others gather, sharing

your picture. Smiling

through pixelated tears, in their hearts

you’ll always have a friend

status. Updates along the junkyard fence:

they line up to record

the machine crush the remains of your bike

into a sheet like the one they made you

sign to leave school when they told you

you weren’t good enough. To live

in another town –your mother’s solution

to screen a son who stole

dizzy glances at his daddy’s love

of liquor. And with a single shot

on a classmate’s phone, we all saw you tragically empty

the chamber into that football-player’s

heart. That night, your hand ended

up clasped to the same spot,

they say. No one saw you

when the light turned green. Your profile launched

as your bike reeled. Fragments found your sleepy tongue,

and your mouth caressed pavement, drawing

your lips into a grin

they comment on. So I like and repost.