NOTE: These poems are part of a project on the wives of Pancho Villa. His wife, Luz Corral, was considered his “main” wife.
Banquet of Victors
Chihuahua, September 1914
I watch comings and goings,
watch cooks in the kitchen,
do they poison the soup?
At every meal, I test for arsenic
with a small silver spoon.
Mirrors of truth, mirrors
of deception. In the silver-framed
mirror Pancho’s mouth shouts wildly,
his temper of a wild jaguar.
Hailed with Obregón as heroes
of the revolution, now Pancho
feels double-crossed, yells, I’m ordering
you shot. In the mirror, Teresa,
his new secretary, blanches. Later,
Pancho offers her a glass of juice,
says, Can you excuse me for scaring
you, my girl? On the sofa, he settles
next to her. In the mirror her chin
quivers. Pancho retires for his siesta.
I remind him, My love, the world
will denounce a man who executes his
house guest. Later that night
we banquet on quail, squash,
rice. The spoon does not tarnish
the threat of execution passes.
In the mirror Pancho watches Obregón
kiss my hand, take his grateful leave.
Dear Husband
I know that someone has the head. It was cut from Pancho Villa’s body as a stroke of revenge. But now all this is history. It would be nice if it were returned.
—Luz Corral
Two years after your death
your grave desecrated,
Dorados search houses,
open trunks, question known
enemies, demand answers.
Where is the severed
head? We hear it tours
with a Yanqui circus,
is more popular
than the conjoined
sisters. We hear
it was stolen
for its tattooed treasure map
to buried gold bullion.
We hear it is on display
next to the skull
of Geronimo
at Yale’s Order
of Skull and Bones.
Pancho, you don’t
need eyes to see
my love for you
remains steadfast
as it was in life.
To the clickety-clack
of my treadle machine,
you tap your restless foot.
Susan Ayres is the author of Walk Like the Bird Flies (Finishing Line, 2023) and Red Cardinal, White Snow (Main Street Rag, 2024). Her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and her poems and translations from the Spanish have appeared in numerous journals.
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