Julio Casares

Like a Lion

There are few things quite as scary
or powerful
as the hands of an ancient man
or woman
grabbing at your skin
or clothes
or hair.
Nothing quite like
feeling the cold tendons
demand your attention.
You see,
the voices are weak
and the eyesight's a haze
and the backs are broke
and the plot's been paid,
but the terror continues
and the anger continues
through the grasp.
(They yank you awake,
as if all the pain and fear
built up over time
has concentrated itself
in that veiny grip.)

I still remember, as a child,
getting my fingers caught
in the store display treadmill
at Kmart.
Abuelito, without thinking or speaking
forced his old limbs
into action.
He grabbed my tiny wrists
with such power
and desperation,
like a lion, threatened,
takes its baby into its jaws.
I still remember
in his bone hands
that cryptic strength.
It was as if he were digging into the dark earth itself
to pull me out

Harris Teeter U.S.A.

I saw an old man
In a grocery store
Behind the deli
Slicing ham

His white hair
In a net
His old hands
Wrapped in plastic

Julio Casares is a serious Latino artist from North Carolina. He is so Latino that his Latino has its own Latino, officially making him the rare double Hispanic.