Margins

MARGINS Catalina Ríos ?. The anorexic professor marks me marginal pronounces a diagnosis ofshame and exile. She's dead wrong not knowing I carry inside me lush treasure hard seeds ofmy own future incubating hot buried deep beneath the flesh. She is skin and bones walking the death road her spirit prepares to surrender. This she does not notice. This she avoids, but I approach margins oferror knowing years later how deadly these proclamations can be. [Meridians:feminism, race, transnationalism 2002, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 213-4]©2002 by Wesleyan University Press. All rights reserved. 213 p. Only in a country ofoutsiders can you walk on margins. Borders designate where the name-calling begins. I lay my dead in blue satin boxes thousands ofthem tiny fragile birds ofbetrayal. They remain to remind me, all wings clipped in margins, lines drawn in grains ofsand. Step closer and you will be surprised at who stands in the corner who lives in a cage who chokes at the horror. Come inside before you cross the lines before you see your brow, your naked heart. Pick up, ifyou dare a stone, a feather, a seed take it over take it back to that place where water is scarce and it is difficult to remember your name. 214 CATALINA RÍOS ...