Guillermo Filice Castro
Trees/Birds/A War/Going On
Will it be like skipping
into a dream, the result
of a ghastly ailment?
Being flung head-on
into the last existing
mailbox by a
hybrid-electric bus?
Mass shooter at a park
very much like this one?
I want my cremated body
disposed of into a body|
of water. Don’t dust-to-dust me, babes.
The couple on the other bench
with their baby, all of whom
I wish to please go,
along with their friend
blowing cigarette smoke
next to the infant,
the lot chatting away
about the baby’s feet
in a foreign-accented English.
I am a bit turned on
when the husband kisses
his male friend’s bald head
as they get up to leave,
grabbing him by the arm,
pulling him closer in a lovely
plot twist I didn’t expect
or are they just
Europeans being Europeans,t
he Oblivious Wife pushing
the stroller mere steps
ahead of them, or
have I been living in this horror-
of-the-body, priggish, war-
mongering place too long? Hey look
at the stunning sunning turtles
in the water but where
have all the good geese gone?
You can always die and come back,
die and come back,
Hollywood,religion,
Marvel & DC super-
heroes remind us
in story after story.
Of course, they all have
awesome merch to sell.|
And this winter
unathletic masked men stormed
a barbecue and dragged people
into unmarked SUVs not far
from power-walkers and runners
and the Norwood spruce felled
by lightning that barely missed a quinceañera.
I don’t want to be stopped
even in my stillness, but one day
someone else will pick up the telling,
will find themself a bench
and enjoy or not enjoy company,
taking notes in some future way,
a dog’s shadow
pulled by its leash
sniffing along their line of vision
Guillermo Filice Castro is the author of the chapbooks I Am Not Alone (Thirty West Publishing House, Fall 2026), Mixtape for a War (Seven Kitchens Press, 2018) and Agua, Fuego (Finishing Line Press, 2015). His work has appeared in Best American Poetry 2023 (edited by Elaine Equi) and many journals, and has been nominated for Pushcart and Best of Net prizes. Castro lives in New Jersey with his husband.