Shopping Cart
    items

      February 11, 2021My Name Is PedroAntonieta Villamil

      I swim in the water of a sea more vicious than salt. I ride the
      waves of my deprived voice. I am an echo in the memory for
      the unremembered. The ones that swim and swim and swim,
      no island near, no shore, no sand. Perhaps I just fancy that I
      swim. Perhaps I excavate the earth that sustains my flesh as a
      promise that enriches old roots. Yes. I dig. I worm into the
      moist soil. Tender seeds cover my dark garb, austere dirt foots
      my empty sandals and I dig out with my mortality and scour
      into the inner rocks until the name I am no more is less than
      bone in the fugitive soil. Perhaps I just fancy that I dig.
      Perhaps I fly into the wind and this winding movement carries
      my flesh a foreshadowing that enriches old voices. Yes. I fly. I
      swirl into the damp air. Hurricane dust covers my blue garb.
      Warm air cleanses my empty sandals and I dart out with my
      mortality and gnaw into the inner wind until the name I am no
      more is less than shreds dashing ephemeral clouds. Perhaps I
      just fancy that I fly. Perhaps I am the burning turmoil that
      brings forth my flesh in smoke signs that decode perennial
      holocausts. Yes. I burn. I am sparks in the bright flames.
      Ardent soot covers my red garb. Dark cleanse my empty
      sandals. I shoot out with my mortality and consume into the
      inner fire until the name I am no more is less than ashes in the
      volatile debris. Perhaps I just fancy that I fly, fancy that I
      swim, fancy that I dig, fancy that I glow. Perhaps I fancy that I
      come into this page so the nightmare unfolds and because I
      am not here, I am here to bring you the memory of moss. My
      voice whisper in shreds and splinters of their rain, flood the
      silent waves into which I disappear. At least you can dismantle
      the layers of my skin. Patiently. One by one and you can heal
      the grave embedded in your chest. That grave of which
      nobody knows. The grave in your chest that is never visited.
      Without a date. Without an epitaph. But remember, my name
      is Pedro. Pedro is my name even though, it is not I anymore.

      from Issue #9 - Summer 1998

      Antonieta Villamil

      “My brother Pedro ‘died of disappearance.’ He is in the long list of people that disappear every day in Central and South American countries.”