Sin nada que hacer

Guatemala, 1994

There are men
All over this country
Who have absolutely nothing to do.

Men
Who stand on street corners,
In store fronts,
At road sides,
With nothing to do.

Men
Who could be working in the fields
planting, harvesting the milpa.
Strong men.
Young
Handsome men
Men
Who could be helping their families
Feeding their families
Working
Loving
Living their lives.

Motionless,
They spend the days
They look at the young women when the women pass by
They whisper to them.
The women know
They cannot respond.
The women know
There is nothing the women can do
Because the men
Have the power of their clothes
The men
Have the power of their weapons in their hands
Even when they are just standing there
With
Absolutely
Nothing
To do.

No Se Olvida

Three helicopters flying up above
Three lights up in the sky
Red, green and white
Let's run
The sight of army tanks rolling into the plaza
The shooting from up above
The arrival of the white gloves' squadron hiding in the buildings
One woman's ear
Spitting into the air into tiny pieces
(A vision I'll forever see every time I close my eyes)
Dead bodies lying next to small cars
Let's run
An open door, a basement apartment,
A crowd of people huddling in a dark room
Hush, hush
The sight from a basement window
Of soldiers' boots as they walk in the park
Hush please hush
The sight of soldiers sitting on the grass on street corners
Smoking cigarettes
Invading our city space
Invading our neighborhood
Our neighborhood!
Nuestro barrio
Nuestra ciudad
Hush,
Walk away,
Walk away fast

Soldiers invading our neighborhood
Throwing the live bodies of
Young men into pickup trucks as if they were
Garbage bags
The young men with hands tied behind their backs,
The young men with pants pulled down to their ankles
Undressed from the waist down,
Exposed
Dripping wet
Humiliation under heavy rain
Soldiers invading our barrio
Throwing the young dead bodies into pick up trucks
Taking them away to bury them or burn them who knows where
Washing the blood in the plaza with water and soap
Lies inside the television set
Mothers and sisters and friends waiting outside of doors
Visiting a hundred jails, a hundred morgues

Then, the fiesta starts, just to celebrate
A beautiful brown runner climbing up the pyramid steps with a high-up torch upon her hand
Beautiful black athletes with high-up fists upon their arms
Flags everywhere
Cheers, porras, cries of joy
"Todo se puede en la paz"
¿Y en la guerra, qué?
Lies inside the television set

Talking in a café after you got out of jail
Like we used to do before
Hush please hush
Don't tell me about it no more
Let's just talk like we used to chat before
Hang my ring in a chain around your neck and I'll be yours

We grew up so fast overnight
And then we ran again and again
And then again and again
And again
And again

© 2004 Teresa Ortiz. From the Red CalacArts Publications chapbook ¿Under What Bandera? AntiWar Ofrendas from Minnesota y Califas.