Smithereens Press Chapbooks The Sea Path by Ciarán O'Rourke | Page 18

Guatemala, 1967
(Otto René Castillo, 1936-1967)
Say nation,
and the deer and moon
unlatch a shadow;
the darkness
quickens;
a candle blows.
Say water,
and thirst assumes
a human shape:
the man
whose mouth
defied the desert,
whose lips
the owners of the rain
would govern,
whose throat
the street-patrolling
prison-guards would smash.
Say pain,
and the concrete
barracks’ walls

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