Refraction #2
A Man
goes before the judge
to make the case for Fatherhood.
The courtroom is stymied by the apparition.
Rosaries are clutched, prayers whispered.
Even the judge, in her cloak of indecision, leans back.
The mother is there, pushing against silence.
A thousand stories are exchanged.
From the disembodied mouths of the children.
In these halls the word love echoes like a myth.
As if years ago, in some distant land,
existed two birds, who tried forging themselves into one,
but wound up resentful
at the impermanent nature of flight.
Right now, the parents of 14,000 children in cages
still believe in such miracles.
From Some of the Light by Tim Z. Hernandez. Copyright © 2023 by Tim Z. Hernandez. Reprinted with the permission of Beacon Press.
Tim Z. Hernandez
Tim Z. Hernandez is an award-winning author, research scholar, and performer. He holds a BA from Naropa University and a MFA from Bennington College.
Hernandez’s work has been featured in the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, C-SPAN, and NPR’s All Things Considered. Public Radio International named his book, Mañana Means Heaven (University of Arizona Press, 2013), as one of their 2013 Books of the Year.