Foundry
  • Home
  • About
    • Masthead
    • Contact
  • Archive
    • Issue One
    • Issue Two
    • Issue Three
    • Issue Four
    • Issue Five
    • Issue Six
    • Issue Seven
    • Issue Eight
    • Issue Nine
    • Issue Ten
    • Issue Eleven
    • Issue Twelve
    • Issue Thirteen
    • Issue Fourteen
  • Guidelines

when i was ill

            i lay in a field
of flowering succulents — 
                        i couldn’t rise. a doctor
 
            passed on horseback
& i lapped a small pool
                        of medicine from their palm.
 
            the hawks picked my box
of strings to pieces. i held
                        a rusted harmonica to my lips.
 
            the heat curved its reeds
into sliding notes & i mimicked
                        a dying wind. a leather pouch
 
            was fastened to my neck.
it held a lover’s ring.
                        i carried it to remember
 
            what i bound myself to.
in a fever-dream, i stood
                        before a lone white horse
 
            in the rain. the birds were loudest
in the morning. i told myself
                        they sang to keep daylight
                       
            from coming, but the blue
dawn crept in anyway.
                        i wanted to end
                       
            before i knew how i would end — 
under a jacaranda, i stared
                        into the sky & whispered
                       
            luna, cuentame tus sueños — ​
            i knew i would die here.
Picture
John James Audubon. Black Warrior (No. 18), 1830. Print. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Alfredo Aguilar is the son of Mexican immigrants. He is the author of the forthcoming chapbook, What Happens On Earth (BOAAT Press, 2018). His work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Iowa Review, The Shallow Ends, Best New Poets 2017, and elsewhere. He lives in North County San Diego.
Back
Next
Issue nine
© COPYRIGHT 2021. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • Home
  • About
    • Masthead
    • Contact
  • Archive
    • Issue One
    • Issue Two
    • Issue Three
    • Issue Four
    • Issue Five
    • Issue Six
    • Issue Seven
    • Issue Eight
    • Issue Nine
    • Issue Ten
    • Issue Eleven
    • Issue Twelve
    • Issue Thirteen
    • Issue Fourteen
  • Guidelines