The Hand You’re Dealt by: Rose Dobson, Acrylic on Canvas, 2016.
Wetback
by: Edgar Trejo
Baptized under a cradle of hands
And blanketed under an old t-shirt.
Like Moses, traveled to the Promised Land,
But by desert.
When he arrived no prophecies were fulfilled.
Hopes never came to be.
He was christened by his first nickname:
Everything you owned and everything you are
Has been left behind.
You will never be heard, you will never be seen-
That missing shoe you left in the desert.
Things are not how they were,
Everything you own, everything you are
Is nothing.
You are just a job.
“Make America Great Again,”
Our bastard brother.
There is nothing to be said, just give in.
We built the ditch they’ve trapped us in.
“Just let it happen.”
Our language arts teachers
Whispered after school.
No one heard.
We never spoke English.
People never change
Until the first cry is heard.
Slaves to “The Land of The Free”
Cowards of “The Home of The Brave”.
We built the ditch they’ve trapped us in.