I have no news.
I no longer believe what the meadows say.
The wheat fields are silent.
They quiet what they witnessed.
The wild bulls swallow their tongues
because they can no longer say, “justice.”
Every morning I wake touching my face.
Want to feel it wet with light again.
Make sure they have not taken it.

Octavio Quintanilla is the author of the poetry collections, If I Go Missing (Slough Press, 2014), The Book of Wounded Sparrows (Texas Review Press, 2024), and Las Horas Imposibles / The Impossible Hours, winner of the 2024 Ambroggio Prize given by the Academy of American Poets. Octavio is the founder and director of the literature & arts festival, VersoFrontera, publisher of Alabrava Press, and former Poet Laureate of San Antonio, TX. His Frontextos (visual poems) have been published and exhibited widely. He teaches Literature and Creative Writing at Our Lady of the Lake University.