El Muro / The Wall

No one believed it would happen here
En el Valle
Where the birders find such joy
In spotting rare unique exotic birds.
No one believed they would build it.
Just talk someone said,
“Puro pedo”
“Not to worry, they’ll never get the money,”
But it did happen,
And hardly anyone noticed
The way the land was ripped
Apart
The way the sky
Above seemed bluer against the brown metal
Jutting up and up and up
Like soldiers saluting a distant god
Sentinels silently guarding… what?
Perhaps a way of life
Incongruent with their dreams,
A pastiche of broken people
Cross their quotidian desires
From one side to the other
All legal and safe
Sipping margaritas en el Mercado
Or shopping at Walmart
Best of both worlds,
A friend tells me. But you gotta be legal to live it
What a life! Not everyone sees the wall.

While fences may make good neighbors
Walls create enemies: suspicious, defensive,
Fearful, who hide behind a wall
solid as fear.
In the past,
Walled cities died, made way for open space
Open commerce
Open lives
Spilling beyond restrictive walls.
Why are we closing it all up again?
The whole world will be walled again.
Porqué?
Pos no se, comadre. Seguro que
Ni ellos mismos lo saben.

May 15, 2009 written on a visit to Nuevo Progreso,Tamaulipas, Méjico

Previously published in Vandaljournal/Walls

Norma Cantú

Dr. Norma Cantú has published articles on a number or academic subjects as well as poetry and fiction. Her publications on border literature, the teaching of English, quinceañera celebration and the matachines, a religious dance tradition have earned her an international reputation as a scholar and folklorist. She has co-edited four books and edited a collection of testimonios by Chicana scientists, mathematicians and engineers. Her award winning Canícula: Snapshots of a Girlhood en la Frontera chronicles her childhood experiences on the border. She edits the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo Culture and Traditions book series at The Texas A&M University Press. As Professor of Latina/Latino Studies and English at UMKC, Cantu’s duties include teaching, committee work, and the development of the Latina and Latino Studies (LLS) Program.