Thursday, April 16, 2009

Necessary Artifice

First time she told the story,
how they sent the children
to harvest
too early
after the crop-
duster, she spoke
in the kitchen
to friends.
She said, this
is where
these freckles
came from, how
my skin peeled. This
is how my sister
almost died. The
tears
surprised her
then.
Her friends
signed up
for La Causa, and
her friends invited
five more friends
to their own kitchens,
each of whom invited
five more friends.

She knew the tears
would come
the second time,
and the third time.

By the time
she told the story
to the housewives in
Los Angeles
in their living rooms
over coffee
and union wine,
she wasn’t crying
any more
so she used
a pin
hidden
in her bandanna
and jabbed
the tears
from her eyes. Over
and over, time
and time
again, her sister
almost died:
the vomiting
and blood told
with pin-wet
eyes.

A necessary artifice,
without which nothing
gets done.

1 comment:

  1. Hello David.
    Just checking to see if the comments are working now.

    ReplyDelete