A Poem by Writer/Publisher Abel Salas "Ni Una Mas"

[Victoria Delgadillo]

NI UNA MAS by Abel Salas

Ni una mas
Not one more
Tear or muffled
Scream in the
Back seat of
Your drug runner
Suburban with
tinted windows
Ni una mas
Not one more
Flower left
Near the marker
Where she was
Last seen
No more hiding
Behind the putrid
Hole in your soul
Ni una mas
Not one more
Broken hearted
Mother who
Still doesn’t know
What became
of her child
Ni una mas
Not one more
Photo of her
Pressed lovingly
Into a frame
Placed on a wall
Where sighs
will reside
Ni una más
Not one more
Bloody mouth
Or steroid kick
To her ribs like
Willow reed
At twenty five
Ni una mas
Not one more
Shattered skull
Or unwelcome
Penetration
River canyon
Full of sorrow
Ni una mas
Not one more
sister, mother
daughter in
a shallow grave
under brutal
hands and eyes
that ooze self-hate
Ni una mas
Not one more
Dream sliced
And zip-tied
Maquiladora
Cotton blouse
Ripped like
Paper moons
In a dark sky
Where stars cry
Silently
And angels
Suffocate
With sadness
Suspended like
molten lead
in their throats
weighing down
majestic wings
white feathers
grey in a rain
of innocence
covering earth
and crimes
that will not
wash away
Ni una mas
Not one more

Not one more year
Not one more month
Not one more day
Not one more hour
Not one more minute
Not one more second

Ni una más

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*Abel Salas has published pieces of journalism in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times Sunday Magazine, The Austin Chronicle and a score of others. He writes poetry and teaches creative writing in LA County juvenile halls from time to time. He is the publisher and Editing Manager of "Brooklyn & Boyle" a cultural circulation out of Boyle Heights in Los Angeles. Check out his blog!

[Martha Rodriguez]

Beautiful, tragic poem!