David Joez Villaverde
今野真理, 吉沢正美, 難波絵梨香, 野本綾子
all we have are words
four children dead, no answers
no closure, no end
to words that will not die, a
phone that rings but stays silent
ash and bone and teeth
photos of clothes in a box
our hands clasped to pray
that we never read the words
here: Mari. Cremated. Bones.
Investigate. Prove.
the emptiness of this dust
and this obscene hope
of life after death or life
after life or just not death
and we want an end
just not this one, not this box
these teeth, not these words
this story that will not die
four children dead, no answers
About the writer:
David Joez Villaverde is a Peruvian American multidisciplinary artist living in Detroit, Michigan. He is the winner of Black Warrior Review‘s 2018 poetry contest and his poems in Crab Fat Magazine and L’Éphémère Review are 2018 Best of the Net nominees. He has been recently published or is forthcoming in Yemassee, RHINO Poetry, The Indianapolis Review, Yes Poetry, and Occulum.
Image: Untitled from The Abstract Series by Sorab Sepehri (1928-1980). Oil on canvas. 97 x 130 cm. Circa 1970. Public domain.
