Foundry
  • Home
  • About
    • Masthead
  • 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
    • Issue Fifteen
  • Guidelines

another country

This is the name for 
the funeral we never had
for you or the you I used
to be: your body, grass 
 
two dandelions in the mouth
of a rock, the bitter green leaves
that give life & continue 
& continue to give
regardless of what seeds take 
root
 
Fixed, that face I knew before
your glass-filled lungs, two 
sacks of rattling crystals, 
black tourmaline eyes 
& two pennies 
for lids, your mouth 
an orange flower
 
a face I didn’t know 
I loved until it was not
the same form & nothing
not the earth nor the sky 
not the bullet or machine 
could make dirt back into you
Picture
Orange Flower at Longwood Gardens, Wilmington, DE by AER Wilmington DE is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Esteban Ismael teaches diversity literature and writing workshops with San Diego Continuing Education. In 2016, he was awarded First Prize in Poetry in Dogwood and named a Second Rounder in the Austin Film Festival’s teleplay competition. His poems are forthcoming or have recently appeared in Spillway, Conduit, Solstice Literary Magazine, The Journal, Puro Chicanx Writing of the 21st Century, Poetry Daily, and The Massachusetts Review, among other fine journals.
Back
Next
Issue Fourteen
© COPYRIGHT 2022. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • Home
  • About
    • Masthead
  • 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
    • Issue Fifteen
  • Guidelines