San Ysabel Massacre

by Susan Ayres


Pancho,

Yesterday, Tia and I made red tamales
while listening to noticias

about your murdering a train car of gringos
headed to the Cosi mine. They say

you stripped them naked, had them stand
off to the side of the railroad tracks,

shot them in the back of their heads,
left them there for vultures. Padre came

for coffee. The ranchers heard you
warn the miner yanquis not to return. 

One of your wives may slit your throat first,
like Padre’s homily of Judith and Holofernes.

Your wife,
Petra
January 1916


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Author's Note: This poem is part of a project about the wives of Mexican Revolution war hero, Pancho Villa. One of the earlier wives he married in Parral was Petra Espinosa. According to historian Haldeen Braddy, Pancho Villa raped Petra, who learned to both fear and desire him. 

Susan Ayres is a poet, lawyer, and translator. Her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and has appeared in a wide variety of literary and scholarly journals including Yale Journal of Law and Feminism, Sycamore Review, Cimarron Review, and Valparaiso Review. She holds an MFA in creative writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts, and teaches at Texas A&M University Law School. Her chapbook is Walk Like the Bird Flies (FLP 2023). Visit www.psusanayres.com.