This is the first poem in an ongoing project by Patricia Caspers, a member of the UU congregation at First Parish, Fitchburg.
The idea is to write poem responses to photos surrounding the current events to which Rev. Leaf Seligman refers in her sermons.
Unfortunately, we were not able to gain permission to post the photo for this poem, but you can view the image by clicking here.
La Fruta del Diablo
coyote makes no promises
anchor of sun
howl of rape trees
buitre, black as death’s lashes
scorch blistered
mama’s worry between my teeth
as a man might carry his knife
wind callused
mija, my light, tres meses,
buried beneath desert stones
no identificado
sleep soured
cross myself before the shadow river
la migra, la migra, la migra
Virgen de Guadalupe, to you I pray
before la serpiente de la frontera
swallows me, spits me
sin papeles
into fields of bloody fruit.
