Farmworker Dies Fleeing an Immigration Raid in Southern California | Karla Hernandez Torrijos
Title taken from the New York Times article of the same name by Mirian Jordan and Jonathan Wolfe. Form invented by Nicole Sealey.
What is the right form
for laying down the dead man’s body?
Closing his eyes?
For pulling the hospital sheet over his head?
What is the appropriate number of caesuras
to convey loss, absence?
If I end stop the line on a question mark,
does it accurately represent my confusion,
my lack of understanding?
Does it absolve my complicit pen?
In this,
I am losing faith.
I used to be a true believer.
Recited poems as
scripture or prayer.
I prayed every day.
Stood at the pulpit, sat in the pew,
I built stained-glass windows
from words that glimmered when spoken.
What words will I speak now, I wonder,
now that a man is dead?
now that a man is dead?
What words will I speak now, I wonder,
from words that glimmered when spoken.
I built stained-glass windows
Stood at the pulpit, sat in the pew,
I prayed every day.
scripture or prayer.
Recited poems as
I used to be a true believer.
I am losing faith.
In this,
Does it absolve my complicit pen?
my lack of understanding?
does it accurately represent my confusion,
If I end stop the line on a question mark,
to convey loss, absence?
What is the appropriate number of caesuras
For pulling the hospital sheet over his head?
Closing his eyes?
for laying down the dead man’s body?
What is the right form
His name was Jaime.
Bonus Audio of Karla reading her poem…
About the author:
Karla Hernandez Torrijos is a formerly undocumented writer and teaching artist. Beginning at an open mic in 2017, she has since read her work in venues across Nebraska, New Mexico, and California. An award-winning poet, Karla’s work interrogates our understanding of home, displacement, and the liminal space in between. She is currently at work on her second manuscript.