Beyond Bruegel's Shore

Abstract

Beyond Bruegel's Shore William Archila (bio) Somewhere in Nicaragua or Guatemala,it doesn't matter, his wings achefrom so much wax, so much discordin his father's voice, how oncehe fled the wards of the statethrough air & sky; so simpleand so exact he fell from the clouds,yet no one cared; not the hospitals,not the impoverished nor the imprisoned.For years, his body entrappedin confinement branching the dreadfuldiagrams of his nerves. And yethe has begun a new life,one of labor, of wife & child,his house asleep by the shore, a fewcattle battering the fattening ground.But something has begun to crack,that dizzy spell of mist, that depthsweeping over him, blaring in the darkthat thick rough side of the sea.This time he set up his gearbecause he had to, because he hadno choice but to curse the coming waters.This time he swooped so lowhe could finger the waves, dropped so lowthe foam soaked his hull of feathers.It's just as well, he banished [End Page 153] it all to the barn. The plowing goes on,but today in Central America, it does matter,another boy fell from the sky, chicken fluff & all,body tangled, indeed body tangled.And there was no one around. [End Page 154] William Archila William Archila earned his mfa in poetry from the University of Oregon. His first collection of poetry, The Art of Exile (Bilingual Review Press) won an International Latino Book Award. His second book, The Gravedigger's Archaeology (Red Hen Press), won the Letras Latinas/Red Hen Poetry Prize. He has been published in American Poetry Review, the Georgia Review, AGNI, Notre Dame Review, and Los Angeles Review of Books, and the anthologies Theatre Under My Skin: Contemporary Salvadoran Poetry, Wide Awake: Poets of Los Angeles and Beyond, and The Wandering Song: Central American Writing in the United States. Copyright © 2017 University of Nebraska Press