The Interview

She was a tall, lean women, with a slightly round face, which was presently propped up by a hand with four tall, lean fingers and one tall, lean thumb. She smiled pleasantly when spoken to, commenting on the weather in a smooth and comforting manner. But mostly she sat--quietly, anxiously, even pensively. And she waited in the stuffiness of that third floor office suite. The woman picked up a tall, lean brochure and began fanning her face with short twitches of the wrist--the air conditioning was broken, and it was hot for April.

Sigh

I don't understand joy; I find my definition lacking. Where is my dictionary?

The Memory of Elena

We spend our morning
in the flower stalls counting
the dark tongues of bells
that hang from ropes waiting
for the silence of an hour.
We find a table, ask for paella,
cold soup and wine, where a calm
light trembles years behind us.

In Buenos Aires only three
years ago, it was the last time his hand
slipped into her dress, with pearls
cooling her throat and bells like
these, chipping at the night—

As she talks, the hollow
clopping of a horse, the sound
of bones touched together.
The paella comes, a bed of rice
and camarones, fingers and shells,
the lips of those whose lips
have been removed, mussels
the soft blue of a leg socket.

This is not paella, this is what
has become of those who remained
in Buenos Aires. This is the ring
of a rifle report on the stones,
her hand over her mouth,
her husband falling against her.

These are the flowers we bought
this morning, the dahlias tossed
on his grave and bells
waiting with their tongues cut out
for this particular silence.

- Carolyn Forché

The Roma Journeys

Photographer Joakim Eskildsen has a recently published a photography series, "The Roma Journeys," documenting the "Roma" ethnic group spread throughout Europe and India. The photography is great, as is the history of the Roma people, more popularly known as Gypsies.