Quantcast
PDF

Visited by a dead villager


by Roberto C. Garcia


for South & Central America, Africa, & Asia

 

Though sound asleep,

I remember the puffs

of her breath

against my waking ear

 

In the dream we sat

across from each other

in a tin roof shack,

 

another was there

& I translated for him,

we talked about guerillas

& she said to tell the man

 

Guerilleros don't start out bad

but in their desperation

to change the world

they become what they hate

 

She grabbed my hand,

said it's time to show me

the reason for her visit

 

We walked out to a bird's

eye view of the jungle &

descended on a dirt road

 

On both sides

for as far as I could see,

thrown about, were dead men,

women & children—their bodies

 

laying amidst garbage

She turned to me, there are

thousands like this, on & on

like this, all over

 

She set off along the road,

I ran the other way—tried to wake up,

terrified that she shared

her story with me

 

 

Endcap