Desiree Morales
Calpurnia in Tejas
Two thousand children
in the tented desert.
By then you’re past
tense. Hysterical
is a word that sometimes
gets used here.
Listen, I read about minority stress
and frankly they should call
them micro-murders.
I tell my heart to behave.
Amygdala sharpens a knife.
Listen, there are already
mass graves in Tejas, unearthed
years before this panic. By the time
it’s the truth the truth
is already ashes in your mouth.
I tell my heart—but you can’t force
the heart.
Amygdala on a short leash.
How long before—Listen.
What you fear will happen has
already happened. I didn’t
want to be right, but
here we are.
Desiree Morales‘s work has appeared in What Rough Beast, Truck: I35 Creativity Corridor, and Conflict of Interest. She is a poet and educator living in Austin, Texas.
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