A Boy Sitting in the Water

There’s a boy

Sitting in the water

He’s looking down

At his palm

Like there’s something

That might have

Crawled onto it

Or maybe he cut it

In the water

The water’s too calm

To be ocean water

So it must be a lake

But a big one

It goes out

And beyond the photo

And the boy doesn’t seem

To appreciate the vastness

Of the body

That he’s in

He looks to be about
Seven or eight

But he could be nine

I have a hard time

Telling age

When anybody’s

Too far removed

From the age

That I am now

His hair has that haircut

That all parents get

For young boys

When they don’t want to spend

Too much money

And they don’t particularly care

How stylish their son looks

It’s short and out of the way

And when it gets wet

It sticks right up

And he looks like every other

Young boy

Who’s grown up

Anywhere in America

Something dots

The edges of the water

In the photo

But I can’t make out

What it is

The young boy

Is looking down at his hand

But he doesn’t seem upset

And he doesn’t seem aware

That he’s having his photo taken

But that’s the thing about kids

They’re not self-conscious

We teach them that

My own son loved having

His photo taken

Until he started smoking

And thought I didn’t know about it

And then once he had a secret

That was it for vulnerability

And freedom

He thought I was the one

Who was restricting him

But it was just growing up

And having things to hide

From people you were once

So close to

Worrying that the camera

Would catch it

That thing you don’t want

Anybody to know

I snapped a photo of my son

On the beach once

And when I developed the photos
I could see the top of a tattoo

That he had gotten on his leg

Which was normally hidden by pants

But only partially by a bathing suit

And I thought about
Whether or not

I should confront him over it

I decided not to

Um

This photo, though

I don’t see any evidence

Of anything being hidden

Which should make the photo

Less interesting

But, in fact, does quite the opposite

You keep coming back to it

Because, I think, you can’t really believe

That nothing’s going on here

And yet it’s such a stunning photograph

Because this young boy

Is--It feels as though

He’s in danger

Because, of course, he is

When you’re that young

You’re always in danger

You’re at the mercy of whatever

Goes by you in the water

The water looks so calm

But you can’t see into it

It’s dark

And the boy isn’t paying attention

He’s only paying attention

To whatever stupid thing

Is on his hand

And you just want to scream at him

You just want to scream

That he should pay better attention

To his surroundings, but…

It’s just a photo

And, you know,

Who knows

How long ago

It was taken