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Monday, April 16, 2018

CRATERS

by Alejandro Escudé




The images
show only
bluish erasures,

the aftermath
of the airstrikes,

just days
after airing
the faces
of babies

squinting,
tears or poison
on their reddened
cheeks.

How does one
fill the holes
that no longer
have meaning?

Can another
Adam and Eve rise
from the smoldering
ruins?

Or another Tree
of Life
grow?

Wouldn’t that
be a sight?
In night vision,

a new man
and woman
squirming up
from the singed
earth

like two worms,
then a blazing
tree

bright as
an explosion.


Alejandro Escudé published his first full-length collection of poems My Earthbound Eye in September 2013. He holds a master’s degree in creative writing from UC Davis and teaches high school English. Originally from Argentina, Alejandro lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children.