Art in Community among the Poor

"Mihaiita"

An eight year old boy was run over by a mini van taxi while being watched by his cousin who lives on the streets. I was asked to take photos of the funeral. This painting and poem were part of my grieving process. I was constantly asked to get closer and take pictures of the little boys bloated corpse. Usually I avoid death and suffering. Somehow I was pushed to face it in its creullty in the face of Mihaiita. We lived for a time in a one room apartment with a balcony with a view of a slice of the Danube.

"from the balcony window
I exhaled a funeral
over the Danube

willow trees bow to the river below
the water moves but never changes
a boat with three men and two oars
are a water spider flying slow
across the massive water

a strip of pines frame the distant shore
where the now dead boy played soccer
with a deflated leather ball

above the pines float yellow fields
marked with horizontal and diagonal
farm roads growing in those golden rows
the mountains fade into the foggy
evening blue gray

the water seems to be made
of the same stuff as the sky
with moon caught in current

the scene is dark and rich
the breeze off the water flows
around my face, God’s mercy
for me a sinner
being afloat in Beauty

when she touches you,
in the wind
and water

in the night sky
in the shiny river
or the face of a little boy
you feel her breath
being an icon kissed