Mohammed Bouazizi

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…[Tunisian] municipal inspector… tried to confiscate Mr. Bouazizi’s fruit, and then slapped him in the face… [He] drenched himself in paint thinner then lit himself on fire. NY Times, January 21, 2011

A rumpled bed of red and white, it could have been
for a child,
but it held a bandaged man
a faceless living
mummy
under the quilt.

A slap launched red and yellow flames
which lit up
thousands of minds, of feet,
his face in his mother’s hand
on posters
and waved as the flag,

red and white, the moon and a bright star
seen over many lands
through flesh-stopped bullets,
blood colored shirts,
coffins aswim
in a sea of hands—

and the waves of blood spread, a tsunami
of twitter, ether, photos
of toppled old men,
as youth in full flourish
caught fruit rolling off carts
and drank fresh juices.