Brandon Cesmat
Guatemalan FiresBishop Juan Gerardi
Bishop Juan Gerardi
Bishop Juan Gerardi
his name hard to read:
In Guatemala, Bishop Juan Gerardi’s name
burns with the bodies of 200,000.So, counting can kill.
So, counting can kill.How much fire does it take to The forensics of boredom,
The forensics of boredom,collapse evidence into ash? so much factual noise.
so much factual noise.As silences go the frequency of atomic orbits is
lower for dead than for the living.
What do we resonate with? Who is "we," traveler?
Who is "we," traveler?Fire to skin?Stone to bone?Dollars to bullets.Soul rustling:
Tissue of intentionFabric of actsFriction from smoldering conflicts of interestStumble footnote to footnote,
pitch in the paper names that whisper our history:
Who is "our,” traveler?Beadle Smith, Under Secretary of State and board member of
United Brands;
John Foster Dulles, Secretary of State and lawyer for
United Brands;
his brother, Allen Dulles,
Director of Central Intelligence Agency in 1954 and lawyer for
United Brands;
Thomas Cabot, President of
United Brands;
and his brother, Henry Cabot Lodge, U.S. ambassador to the
UN in 1954;
John Clementz, Hearst news executive and publicist for
United Brands;
General Castillo Armas, dictator, overthrew Guatemala’s elected president
in 1954;
Rios Mont, dictator during height of
Guatemala" genocide in 1980s;
Ronald Reagan, President
United States
restored military aid to
Guatemala in 1980;
Col. Disreal Lima Estrada, conspirator in murder of
Bishop Juan Gerardi;
Captain Byron Lima Oliva, conspirator in murder of
Bishop Juan Gerardi;
Jose Obdulio Villanueva, conspirator in murder of
Bishop Juan Gerardi;
Rev. Mario Orantes, conspirator in murder of
Bishop Juan Gerardi;
To the fires of silence, the names unknown
except to their families and executioners and ¿Juan quién?
¿Juan quién?Bishop Juan Gerardi
Bishop Juan Gerardi,
his name is hard to read.
Election Night,San Juan del Sur, NicaraguaFebruary 26, 1990On the plaza at midnight, party members
repack crates of Victoria cervesa, dump ice
into the gutter; one of many concessions.
Beyond the broken volcanic wall of the bay,
a tiburón swings her tail
and feels tired in history.
Desired justice and justified desire.
Oh, revolution is a Spring Tide.
Tonight the water rolled so far out
I barely hear waves gasping when we stop talking,
wrap ourselves in campaign banners and
lay down on the porch of the National Telephone Office.
A compañero practices throwing his knife into the planked porch floor.
We stand still in the morning when Ortega comes on T.V. to
stop minds from spinning. while he circles in the pool of lights.
The water chummed with the blood of martyrs
and mercenary money,but he never flashes teeth in the lights on the rostrum.
He looks every night of his forty-four years as
he turns from live microphones dangled before him
and walks into the Managua morning.
Brandon Cesmat’s most recent book, Driven into the Shade, a poem cycle, a Califor-noir, about a son who discovers as he grows into fatherhood that the Golden State’s relentless sunshine casts relentless shadows. Driven into the Shade received the San Diego Book Award for “Best Poetry.”
Cesmat is also veteran poet-teacher for California-Poets-in-the-Schools (CPITS), the largest artist-residency program in the U.S., and serves as its president. He has edited a book—Classrooms of Poets—about CPITS’ artist residencies. Both Classrooms of Poets and Driven into the Shade are available from Poetic Matrix Press of Madera, California.
He is also the poet-vocalist in the performance ensemble Drought Buoy. Cesmat received first prize in the Poetry of Music anthology. His work has been selected for the California Contemporary Writers Voice in Action Series. Red River Review nominated Cesmat’s work for the Pushcart Prize. His work also appears in Homestead Review, ONTHEBUS, Weber Studies and ROADSpoetry.
Cesmat currently teaches film studies, literature & writing at Cal State University San Marcos. Every spring he and his family cut firebreaks in the brush around their home in Valley Center, California.
