Carmen Calatayud
HUNGER DREAM
Comunidad Valenciana, España (1939-1942)
This violet sky rains almonds.
I try to catch one on my tongue.
The rest drop to the ground and
We gather them in sacks for sustenance.
Our dreams brown almonds.
Our eyes brown almonds.
We stop to break open a few and
Eat together. We kneel because our
Ancestors gave love to these native trees.
The tree limbs grew to the clouds, and
The clouds released almonds.
We smuggle almonds in aprons and pants.
The wind is hungry so we feed it almonds.
We labyrinth our way home with
Hope that flies inside our skulls.
Our DNA sings under the sun.
Today we don’t taste blue emptiness.
We taste bark, branch and shell.
For tonight we are stripped of wild twilight fear.