To Henry, Crane, and “those who jumped”

Zoe Byszynski

@habitually_a_mess

The dying sun sank to the west “cast

your indifferent rays upon the earth”

I walked out into the yard.

Hearing of my Uncle’s termination,

I became convinced of my own extinction.

To die by a heartache devoutly wished,

who would bear the love of the unworthy

and sweat after death?

I stopped about halfway across.

Two graceful faces looking upwards.

Begging, “baby bury me in Belfast

because that’s the only place my body belongs!”

Artist Note:

He snuck over the Canadian border.

He was deported.

He came back.

He was an alcoholic.

He’d been an alcoholic.

He had problems with his wife.

His second wife?

After their kid died young.

Drowned?

He had two more kids.

One studied psychology,

my mom told me. 

He had problems with his wife.

She might’ve reported him.

They both were undocumented.

He was the only one home when ICE detained him,

conveniently.

He was an alcoholic.

He came back

but he didn't let his shoes touch the ground.

They always say my father looked like him,

Except without the handlebar mustache.

They always say I look like my father.

My mom told me.

My father tells me very little.