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      October 7, 2021Childhood HomesGil Arzola

      Where the bushes are now a house once was.
      See there—where branches are twisted together like skinny
      arms hugging air? You’d think it was one thing instead of two
      until you look closer and follow to its roots.
      Right there—where the branches
      are highest there was a window and
      a boy looking out.
       
      My life is passing. The snow melts.
      In another day it will become water and disappear
      into the ground.
      Over there—across the field you can count
      one, two, maybe three trees I used to climb.
      Walk there—
      And you can ask each blade of grass on the way
      to tell you my name.

      from The Death of a Migrant Worker

      Gil Arzola

      “The Death of a Migrant Worker is a gift and monument of words to my parents. It is a way of saying ‘these people passed through this way’ and here’s what they did.”