~ Delta Poetry Review ~

Albert Garcia

Quicksand

In the movies you find it when you run

from the men who want

your life.

Suddenly you are hip deep

in a little clearing in the jungle

sinking

slowly, reaching out for a branch

or a vine, feeling yourself begin

to submerge,

you and the viewer trying hard

not to imagine the moment

your head

goes under. Right over the hill

an explorer with a full canteen                       

or a woman

out searching for a lost collie

is there to rescue you if only

your voice

could carry that far. Let’s be real.

One of them will pull you out

with a rope

just in the nick of time. The men

on horses and with rifles, reckless

with their rage,

storm into the quagmire before

they know what’s up. You end up

hiking

out of this hellhole to a life

of prosperity and fame, knowing

forever

as you drink your gin on a covered porch

telling your story, your one story,

over and again

to your friends who know, as you know,

you owe your life to luck,

that the sand

held you so tight you couldn’t move,

that part of you was resigned

to die.

Albert Garcia is the author of three books of poems, Rainshadow (Copper Beech Press), Skunk Talk (Bear Star Press), and A Meal Like That (Brick Road Poetry Press), as well as a textbook called Digging In: Literature for Developing Writers (Prentice Hall). His poems have appeared in journals such as Prairie Schooner, Willow Springs, Southern Poetry Review, and North American Review. He is the president at Sacramento City College.