Corner of the Dead

Chapter 1

[ 133 ] C H A P T E R 1 T H E H U D S O N R I V E R laps against the landfill of lower Manhattan, stretches to the bedrock of New Jersey. Outlines of tree branches reflect like jagged spears. I have been walking for a long time. I come most every day. It is a secret, this walk. I’m in Perú but I am afraid to tell Phoebe and Ben. It is more than thinking of Perú. I allow Perú to enter me. I am being summoned. I can look at the photographs now even though there was a time I wanted to burn them. I have had enough burning. Last night I went through another box and found a statue of the Virgin Mary. It is the one I bought in a shantytown outside of Lima, with eyes that see. Not dead eyes like the others. The woman who owned the store knew the difference. There is also incense. She sold me labdanum and myrrh. Labdanum is extracted from the roses that grow between the rocks above the shoreline. They bloom infrequently and often die before being seen. I used to read this poem by Cesar Vallejo. This page is in here because I had carried it with me so I could memorize it. I don’t think I can recite it from memory any longer. [ 134 ] Los Nueve Monstruous Pues de resultas del dolor, hay algunos que nacen, otros crecen, otros mueren, y otros que nacen y no mueren, otros que sin haber nacido, mueren, y otros que no nacen ni mueren (Son los más). Y tambíen de resultas del sufrimiento, estoy triste hasta la cabeza, y más triste hasta el tobillo, de ver al pan, crucificado, al nabo, ensangrentado, llorando, a la cebolla, al cereal, en general, harina, a la sal, hecha polvo, el agua, huyendo. The Nine Monsters For as a result of the pain, there are some who are born, others grow, others die, and others who are born and do not die, others who without having been born, die, and others who neither are born nor die (The most). And also as a result of suffering, I am sad up to my head, and sadder down to my ankle, from seeing bread, crucified, the turnip, bloodied, the onion, crying, cereal, in general, flour, salt, ground to dust, water fleeing. ...