Is it the Pharaoh's queen they think about
As they stand fanning towels for a breeze
Or concubines of some Assyrian prince
In ziggurats adorned with frieze?
Perhaps the breeze reminds them of
A coastal town they left behind
Or homes, or dreams, or loves
Or maybe golden fields of corn
where pollen blows through verdant hills
And which mist blankets every dawn
Or, if not that,
Maybe hot fumes from gutter grates
Or the exhaust from speeding cars
of some commuter running late
In a half-circle, orange-clad inmates fan white towels
in time
Around damp spots on the cell's gray floor
till dry
And thoughts of queens and concubines
By gray steel bars
Are kept outside
*Jail lingo for cleaning duties performed by inmates every morning and evening in their cells. In the poem above, the imagery depicts prisoners using towels to dry damp spots left on the floor after mopping.)
5 comments:
Talacha sounds like something people eat. I know some people call barbacoa, barbacha.
I had never heard of that word before.
(Talacha sounds like)
It's a word you will only hear amongst spanish speaking people who are confined in a jail type setting. No where else. You won't hear it at a restaurant or in mom's kitchen.
Isidro.
Is a TALACHA a tool used to perform hard labor?
Enjoyed the symbolism.
Talacha is a variation of talache, a pick ax with one end used as a hoe. It is used for low-paying, labor, peon-type of work. Chain gangs like those in Cool Hand Luke used talaches to bust up hard soil and rocks. So if you're doing mindless menial duties you are on the talache crew.
Prof. Manuel Leiber
Wow, learn something new, have never been in a jail, have only visited, but never inside.
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