RAMAS DE FLORES PARA TRINI

RAMAS DE FLORES PARA TRINI,
NUESTRA COCINERA,
FLOWERS FOR TRINI ON THE WAY
TO SUCHITOTO ON THE DAY OF THE DEAD

    Rogad a Dios por el eterno descanso del alma de
              Jorge Alberto Olmedo Hernández
    Falleció el 13 de octubre de 2009

El ángel del Señor acampa en torno
a los que temen;
a su lado está para librarlos. Salmo 34: 7

The angel of the Lord encamps
around those who fear him,
and delivers them. Psalm 34: 7

Our small pickup is one low gear short
of what we need and stopped on a hill
as another half-dozen women and children
climb into the back end. It takes
just under two hours driving out of San Salvador,
and no one who knows Trini will be turned away
from our truck, squeeze in, 25 of us
will climb out when we arrive
at the community cemetery where Trini's son
was buried two weeks ago. Extorción.
A la tumba de su hijo en el día de los difuntos.
Her son murdered by the gangs. Extortion.
Trini is the cook who makes my breakfast
and her older son, along with family and friends,
are on the way to place flowers and make beautiful
his grave, celebrating his life.
This is the Day of the Dead.
For God, there is no difference
between the living and the dead.
Everyone from all over is on their way here,
cooking pastries and meats, buying flowers,
preparing a feast with the ancestors.
School children carrying buckets of paint,
shoe polish and brushes, elbow each other
for business. Business is good on this day,
scrubbing and painting gravestones.
We are all women and children. The truck
rests on the rear axle full of bad sounds,
and the truck pulls into a gas station
where Trini's other son puts air in both rear tires.
A stencil on the rear window of the car
in front of us reads only this: Salmo 34: 7.

Jim Bodeen
San Salvador—Suchitoto—Yakima
20 May 2010