Under the Walnut Tree
By Ricardo Ruiz
I was sleeping in an unbearable
pain
when the curandera came.
She took me in.
No one could take me to be cured.
The white fluorescent lights
of the hospital would shine on our
brown skin
and empty pockets.
When we arrived at the orchard
they gave us a meeting.
Explaining something
about the chemicals. That when
applied
we must wait 72 hours for “re-
entry.”
We didn’t,
stepping the next day
on the mayordomo’s orders.
I was the only one
harmed of the twenty.
My wife
was in Mexico
at home with our child.
I had made up my mind.
I wasn’t going to live.
I was two days intoxicated.
I was Poisoned.
I was wishing I was dead.
Copyright Credit: Ricardo Ruiz, "Life of the Eldest Girl " from We Had Our Reasons . Copyright © 2022 by Ricardo Ruiz. Reprinted by permission of Pulley Press.