From “Gesture with Both Hands Tied” by Marcelo Hernandez Castillo

From "Gesture with Both Hands Tied"
by Marcelo Hernandez Castillo

I'm going to open the borders of my hunger
and call it a parade.

But I'm lying if I said I was hungry.

I read Marcelo Hernandez Castillo’s memoir, Children of the Land, earlier this year for class. Even had my professor hadn’t told us that Marcelo was a poet, one could have guessed by the way he writes. Shortly after, I picked up his poetry collection, Conzontle, afterward. This choice was random. I flipped through pages and stopped at one poem and chose a verse that hit me the most.

Csatillo’s opening the borders of his hunger reminded me of the life he described in his memoir. The way he had to keep his undocumented status under wraps to protect himself and his family. How ICE agents visited his home to find his father, even though he had been living in Mexico for \years.

How many times will a similar story play out in this country. How many children are cowering in the shadow of ICE?

You can read “Gesture with Both Hands Tied” in Conzontle, which is available on Kindle or softcover.