"All the Trees of the Field Shall Clap Their Hands" by Eduardo C. Corral
All the Trees of the Field Shall Clap Their Hands
by Eduardo C. Corral
Josefa Segovia was tried, convicted and hanged on July 5, 1851, in Downieville, California, for killing an Anglo miner, a man who the day before had assaulted her.
Are the knees & elbows the first knots the dead untie? I swing from a rope lashed to a beam. Some men along the Yuba river toss coins into the doubling water. Visible skin. Memorable hair. Imagine: coal, plow, rust, century. All layers of the same palabra. Once I mistook a peach pit on a white dish for a thumbprint. Wolf counselor. Reaper. Small rock. The knot just under my right ear whispers God is gracious, God will increase. The soul, like semen, escapes the body swiftly.