By William Archila
Featured Art: “Thorazine” by John Zywar

Philosopy is a way to find out god left long time ago. Correction.

Philosophy is a way to catch on we are the only gods left. Death
is an endless war against philosophy. Correction. Death is a reminder
we’re already dead. Is history what we forget but are reminded
again & again? Is religion a different method to talk to our future
selves. Darkness is a joy to find out anything is better in the dark.

Colonization is to put the land in a casket then sell it to another cop.
Let me try again. My professor says colonization is what colonizers
did to his mama. A migrant caravan is a ship of settlers seeking land
& jobs. Repeat. A migrant caravan is a ship with white sails seeking
a bed & a good shower. Americans are anyone born in the continent
named after Amerigo Vespucci. Yes, Nicaraguans are Americans, too.
Disappearance is to live inside a skull that is too small for the mind.

There are people very good at that. I don’t know what else to tell you.

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William Archila is the winner of the 2023 Philip Levine Prize for Poetry for his collection S is For. He is the author of The Art of Exile and The Gravedigger’s Archaeology. He was awarded the 2023 Jack Hazard fellowship. His work has appeared in Kenyon Review, Prairie Schooner, Poetry, TriQuarterly, and the anthology Latino Poetry: The Library of American Anthology. He is an associate editor at Tía Chucha Press.