THE CROSSING

  by Mimi Ferraro

With each step
dust to ashes  I disappear
In Altar  spirits  choke prayers   rise 
ghost  60 miles trek   past tombstone arroyo
dry bed ruin    skeletal remains 
wind winnows grief   gristles chaff from bones 
Here  at the border   the lost   specter
I try to remember  their names   shadow clouds scrape mesa
In Malinalco   someone lights fire   smoke lifts from shrine
of the Virgin of Guadalupe   Above  angry sky  wheeling hawk circles
near fence line  radar tower   men with guns wait 
I take one step   then another