Day 1,078

The toddler was wedged
between concrete blocks
when his building
collapsed. Wedged
between what had been
the walls of his apartment.
Wedged between each
of his parents, who
had been killed. Wedged
between fear and pain,
wedged between grief
and horror. Wedged
between the hunger
he’d known his whole life
and the knife-sharp ache
in his stomach
from the heavy blocks
that confined him. Pressed
him from either side.
Rescuers speaking to him,
trying to calm him,
trying to get him out
before his body collapsed
like the building, wedged
as he was between living
and dying.