Vision, Execution & How to Make an Ex-Voto
By Jonathan Diaz
Vision: October 15, 2022
Having seen the smoke piling above the parking lot and the flames coiled around the cars the firefighters instructing the crowd to move any vehicles not actively on fire I staggered in the charred air towards my spot expecting the Virgen de Guadalupe sticker in my rear windshield to appear through the cloud of ash I had forgotten that three years of sun had worn the image down to shreds so only a tattered apparition remained above the smoking ground
Execution: March 29, 2013
Having taken the 5 down its eternally under-construction lanes to a Latin service you knew having walked with crossed arms before the priest we sat in my Celica arguing whether it was best to kill the rattlesnake we had seen I said mercy was most fitting clutching one of the rosaries the Fathers had given us You gestured to the sign reading St. Michael’s preparatory school and said children play here I reversed wordlessly peeled out and left the shattered skull seething blood and venom into the hot sand.
How to Make an Ex-Voto
First, get some scrap of garbage
and bind to it a fragment
of your memory. A flattened
can will serve well. Paint the scene
of your calamity as best you can.
Place the Saint whose name
you called on the horizon
and beneath the image, write:
having fallen from the priory tower,
having been conscripted by the army,
having been kicked by a horse,
On this day, having been beaten by robbers, I asked
having been taken suddenly by a fever,
having been arrested on false charges,
having watched my stolen car drive off,
___________________________________
Then tell the manner of your salvation.
In memory of the blessing, dedicate the image as a testimony.
La Virgen de Guadalupe
San Tadeo
El Santo Niño de Atocha
Santa Lucia to intercede for me.
San Benito
Santa Ana
The Woman of the Water
______________________
These poems originally appeared in Stonecoast Review Issue 20. Support local booksellers and independent publishers by ordering a print copy of the magazine.
Photo by thom masat