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  • Piedras Negras*
  • Beverly Monestier (bio)

Nothing much civil about that war, cotton, the white phantom following us across the South, driving us harder than cattle to Texas.

But with all that movement, we built up steam, became the underground railroad no one called that.

We were black stones skipping across the water toward a town that already bore our name* , river changing faces as we crossed it, washing hunger from our bellies, blood from our brows. The murky border covered us like camouflage, till we could sling ourselves, slick-backed, to freedom. [End Page 889]

Beverly Monestier

Beverly Monestier, a citizen of Cyprus and the USA, is currently touring with the Texas Commission on the Arts. She is author of two collections of poems, Modern Ruinsand Unauthorized Apparitions. Her work has also appeared in a number periodicals, including Southern Humanities Review, Palo Alto Review, Chautauqua, Rio Grande Review, and many others.

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