by Matthew Hamilton
A farmhand from El Paso told us
we could dig arrowheads from the brown dirt,
and after harvest we searched the dry field,
pushing aside leftover tobacco leaves
curling and yellowed by the sun.
When Mom called us for lemonade
and smiled at our treasure,
I sat watching the field,
the Tsalagi’s shadows stalking deer,
stretching hides, building river cane houses.
None looked my way, but I wondered
if they knew I saw.
Matthew Hamilton is a US Peace Corps Volunteer serving in the Philippines. Prior to his Peace Corps service, Matthew was a Librarian, Office Manager for North Carolina State House Representative Patrick T. McHenry, and Legislative Assistant in Washington, DC. After graduating from Belmont Abbey College in 1999, Matthew joined a Benedictine monastery. However, after living a life of prayer, solitude, and study for four years, Matthew decided to leave the monastery. His fiction and poetry can be found in The Battered Suitcase, Metazen, Crow’s Nest and other magazines, and new work is forthcoming from Black Lantern Publishing. After Peace Corps service, Matthew will attend Fairfield University’s MFA program in creative writing.
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