Chella Courington

Claudia Patricia Gómez González is returned to Mother Earth

At the border children cry in cages.

I wake drenched in dark dreams.

My mother reaches from the grave. Nails catch the hem of my dress.
I fall on granite. Red streaks my shins.

Wrapped in a gray Mayan shawl, her mother is silent.

My father sits sobbing. Dust spots his black suit. Dried red roses
lie across his legs. Thorns pierce the wool.

Her father weeps.

#ClaudiaPatriciaGómezGonzález. #SayHerName.

Just returned twenty. Taking flight from violence in Guatemala. Shot
in the head by a Texas border agent. May 23, 2018.

Mother and father receive the white coffin carrying their daughter.

Its cover lifted partway.