Thirteen — Blackbird Archive

← v13n2, Fall 2014

How frightened I was then, and how foolish

I am now, thinking this admission

would reconcile myself

with my younger self.

That boy. This long silence

between us. This guilt he brought to me.

This red feather in my hand.

family illness childhood

David Hernandez

David Hernandez is the author of three collections of poetry, most recently Hoodwinked (Sarabande Books, 2011), winner of the 2010 Kathryn A. Morton Prize in Poetry. He has received an NEA Literature Fellowship in poetry and a 2014 Pushcart Prize. He teaches creative writing at California State University, Long Beach, and California State University, Fullerton. Photo by Ernie Liang