A Visit to Prison

2 Minutes Read Time

A taillight of a black car in the night. It is lit up with red.
Photo by Tharoushan Kandarajah on Unsplash
Somewhere . . . Someone remembers it was the day we visited your mom at work. The old Montford unit. I’ve driven pass that sonuva’ bitch everyday ¡chingao! twice a day for twenty-plus seasons while the burnt sky arched flat, bright with angry love, and I never told y’all que tenía familia . . . no need to say more. I sat backseat in your Honda Civic, a prisoner of worry, while the woodpecker in your engine block kept my almond eyes wide. I clearly heard the woodpecker, I did not mishear, but I will admit: memory feeds. The years pass like the tumbleweeds, a drag and gather. Few are the nights that remain in my memory, fewer are the memories I care for. Careful now: this is both story and truth. You went in. You came out. We headed back. I saw. I saw. Roads. Roads. Take it. Take it. Night with lungs full of smoke. The haunting humming of a West Texas wind. Howls of hate. I asked you: what is it like loving someone who only offers Faustian bargains . . . Even death gets tired, you said. We sat parked at the park like old debts, the sky overhead, wondering how many others watched its blush.

Read more from Issue 20.1.

Sun icon Moon icon Search icon Menu icon User profile icon User profile icon Bookmark icon Play icon Share icon Email icon Facebook icon Twitter icon Instagram icon Bluesky icon CR Logo Footer CR Logo Topnav Caret Right icon Caret Left icon Close icon