"Golpes After Vallejo" has been published in The Raw Art Review: a Journal of Storm and Urge Winter 2020 Issue. You can download the issue here. If you want a hard copy of the book, you can purchase it at: https://therawartreview.com/journal-issues/.
GOLPES AFTER VALLEJO
“Hay golpes en la vida tan fuertes…”*
not tiny insults like the cat’s claw
piercing your sweet big toe till it spouts crimson tears
You are sturdy and have antiseptic
The cut is but an inch in your miles and miles of life
Still
“Hay golpes en la vida tan fuertes…”
Blows so hard in life
So strong
“Hay golpes …”
they shot off his face
that boy, so pure and golden
fresh from the island when I first knew him
now a man, a father
who cannot stand whole for his progeny:
three children
two stateside, one on the island
Yes
“Hay golpes en la vida tan fuertes…”
Blows so hard in life
So strong
“golpes …”
they severed his identity
one bullet that sliced through his face
amputating the chin, half the mouth
half his face fell off,
the jaw bones, left splintered
died
Hay golpes en la vida tan fuertes…
Blows so hard
Perhaps not softened but cushioned
By a sister who unravels miles and miles of life
To cocoon this shattered man
To wrap those golpes en la vida
in the endless silk
of her love
* Line from Cesar Vallejo
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