EPISODE 6 AS RECOGNITION

Adrián Pachuca

from a longer piece, "Ekphrastic ft. Joe Exotic"

Yesterday a tio died. The doctor had released him under pretense of cure—that flimsy coat.
He coughed and coughed and coughed until the lung burst. Another time
A student told me they walk 2 miles to access to wifi and quiet. At a certain point,
My mother could no longer work—her boss forbade it. She was vaccinated and a risk.
So, she laid with muscle pains. Still stricken with sick. She asked what it is I do all day.
Once my father told me the masks were tedious. He preferred to breathe deeply while working.
Cut grass, the cold morning dew
Sprouts on the tips of his boots. Then it stopped—the pleasure. Once we all had it,
We went rancid at the throat, having a wanting increase of separation and
I learned something. After a while, I started having nightmares. Ojo is there. Its breath
Dank and rust, he kneads me till I’m sweet. I look to find a camera there, its blinking
Eye moving from red to black. There she was. Looking back. I wake in sticky and rush.
This was the third time I’ve read the article. My caldo de pollo went cold and I learned something
About wanting the separation. About starting at the seed. About breaking a family at its
Most vulnerable parts. Today, another ICE raid—legal immigrants were targeted.¹
Soon, we’ll watch another episode of something locked and starving.
Soon, we’ll watch how big were the cages. Soon, the cries I’ve heard in my life
will affect one another—till I no longer know which is which.