Reasons to post a photo of a dead child from Aleppo

By Sergio A. Ortiz

Omran was a Syrian boy: Our son defeated in front of the sea after chasing the dawn, our little brother cleft by the blows of the crab that was death, nothingness, emptiness, a thick river of icy water. Our child like all other innocent children whom they bombed in Aleppo and are no longer: I want nothing more from this world. Everything I dreamed of disappeared. I need to bury my children and sit next to them until I die. Omran survived hunger, thirst and despair, but not the Syrian government, not the world who did not know, or care, how to save him.

Sergio A. Ortiz is a gay Puerto Rican poet and the founding editor of Undertow Tanka Review. He is a two-time Pushcart nominee, a four time Best of the Web nominee, and a 2016 Best of the Net nominee. He is currently working on his first full length collection of poems, Elephant Graveyard.

Reading recommendation: Elle va nue la liberté (Freedom, She Comes Naked) by Syrian poet Maram Al-Masri.