The Monkey

“I need $10 for my sister.
She walks in circles
And screams at night,
the wailing of a monkey.
She tears at her stomach,
Says she wants the monkey out. 

The doctors say
there is no medicine
to treat the scream.
We heard there is a brujo,
but have no money to pay him.”

“You think the brujo will help?”  she asks.

He gazes for a long moment at his hands.
They carried powerful guns in the war.
They are calloused
and empty.

“It is the only thing we know to do,” he says.

January 1995