THE WRITERS POST

(ISSN: 1527-5467)
the magazine of Literature & Literature-in-translation.

VOLUME 7 NUMBER 2

JUL 2005

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 KHE IEM

_______________________________

 

A DEATH

ON TELEVISION

 

Translated by Do Vinh

 

 

 

          AP. -- MRS. ROSA GONZALEZ SAW HER SON’S BODY ON THE ARAB NEWS-CHANNEL AL-JAZEERA ON SUNDAY MORNING, AND THE NEXT DAY SHE WAS NOTIFIED THAT HER SON HAD BEEN KILLED IN ACTION. “I SAID POOR, POOR BOYS. THEY FELL THERE. BUT WHEN I SAW THE FACE, IT WAS THAT OF MY SON,”  CPL. JORGE A. GONZALEZ, 20 YEARS OLD, WAS ASSIGNED TO THE 1ST BATTALION, 2ND MARINE REGIMENT, 2ND MARINE EXPEDITIONARY BRIGADE, IN CAMP LEJEUNE, NORTH CAROLINA.  MARRIED TO JUZTY, 25 YEARS OLD; HIS SON ALONSO, BORN MARCH 4, 2003, SEVERAL WEEKS BEFORE HE WAS DEPLOYED FOR COMBAT IN THE MIDDLE EAST. END OF NEWS FLASH. END. THE END.  SILENCE. 

CAN NOT BE SILENT. 

AND A POEM, READ

RYTHMICALLY,

LIKE A

PRAYER...

 

 

The woman sees the death of her own son

on the screen but does not believe that her

son is dead, and even though the news came like

a storm about the death of her son, she

does not believe what she saw;  no one received

the news and recognized the death of her

son and she also could not understand

even her own pain because that is only

 

a partial death on the screen and in the

news, and the pain is only a partial

pain;  the story both real and unreal

about a son in times of war continues

 

to be told without ever quitting like

the pain shivering in her heart;  her son

dead or alive, no one could know what is

behind the death of a young soldier leaving

 

a wife and a newborn child growing up

without a father other than a letter remaining 

“And if you can wait just a little longer,

I’ll be there as soon as the war ends.”

 

 “I’ll be there…”  no one could understand

except the woman swallowing her pain

waiting another death of her own in

order to be with the son losing the

 

way home, and her memories fading for

more than once she does not believe what

she saw -- the death of her son.

 

March 27—2003.

                Translated by Do Vinh

           

 

 

The Writers Post
the magazine of literature

& literature-in-translation,

founded 1999, based in the US.

 

VOLUME 7 ISSUE 2 JULY 2005

 

Editorial note: Works published in this issue are simultaneously published in the printed Wordbridge magazine (ISSN: 1540-1723).

Copyright © Khe Iem 2005. Nothing in this magazine may be downloaded, distributed, or reproduced without the permission of the author/ translator/ artist/  The Writers Post/ and Wordbridge magazine. Creating links to place The Writers Post or any of its pages within other framesets or in other documents is copyright violation, and is not permitted.

 

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