Helen Speaks

           June, 2017

Tonight I will sit in the dark

people the wall of my sorrow

Roberto was a busser I was a server

he came to visit an aunt and stayed

he started talking and I tried

to ignore him he kept on talking

smiling and smiling and smiling

full of smiles and careful words

we got married had three kids

settled into a comfortable life

I wanted to understand the madness

the sad slouch of justice

we met in ’98 in Fort Wayne

years and years went by until

Eddie’s Steak Shed in Granger

we lived in Mishawaka

your husband is being detained

because he’s a fugitive they said

my husband’s not running

from you you didn’t come

knocking on our door I said

he came to you he’d been told

to leave in 2000 I was pregnant

and sick and so again he stayed

he’s been moved from Wisconsin

to Lousiana and more recently

El Paso Texas one night they

suddenly told him it was time

to get his stuff put him in the back

of a van sped for the border

he was dropped off forced

to walk to Mexico the children

eight-year-old Demetri fourteen-year-old

Jasmine sixteen-year-old Maria

are having a difficult time

since he’s been gone the restaurant

has received threatening calls

and angry letters pack your bags

and go to Mexico said one

earlier today staring in the mirror:

your skin is bitter like suffering

what have you done voting for trump

           with Andrés Montoya