Draft 39

Octavio Quintanilla

 

 

What’s the metaphor to say, “Our exile begins?”
Spiders and snakes have lost their nests.
Pastures are on fire.
So many birds flying that pieces of sky disappear.

 

 

Draft 48

Octavio Quintanilla

 

 

When you die / I’ll cover the mirrors /
                with white sheets / cover

the suicides by the river / with the moss /

of evergreens // Branches in the air
mean the trees / bear witness //

They see it all // The drowned
end their journey / at the foot of our doors //

Have you named the distance /
that misses you //

With my ear on the ground / I hear
your prayer / You / about to die /

in another country //

 

 

Draft 40

Octavio Quintanilla

 

 

What I now know is that
even some
of our white
friends
who love us
grew up
hearing those
they were loved by
calling us
racial
slurs

 

 

Draft 75

Octavio Quintanilla

 

 
 

Octavio Quintanilla is the author of the poetry collection “If I Go Missing” (Slough Press, 2014) and the 2018-2020 Poet Laureate of San Antonio, Texas. His work has appeared in Salamander, RHINO, Alaska Quarterly Review, and elsewhere. He is the regional editor for Texas Books in Review, and he teaches Literature and Creative Writing in the M.A./M.F.A. program at Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio, Texas.