“Dry Bones” by Manuel Trevizo (Excerpt)

A skull, of a bull

Perched on a rotting post of wood

The background, a blood red sunset

With hints of a lack of oxygen

Smeared across the panorama

Saguaro Cacti, erected across the

Barron waste land

Representing generations of life,

While the skull represents generations of death

 

Dry heat is what they said,

But so is fire

Build canals! Sow the seeds! Inhabit this

Illustrious land full of opportunity

 Read more here

Published by

El Portal

Eastern New Mexico University’s literary magazine, El Portal, offers a venue for the work of writers, artists and photographers. ENMU students, national, and international writers are welcome to submit their original, previously unpublished short stories, plays, poetry and photography. No entry fees are charged. Cash prizes are awarded to first-, second- and third-place winners in each category (only ENMU students qualify). El Portal is published each semester at Eastern thanks to Dr. Jack Williamson, a world-renowned science fiction writer and professor emeritus at ENMU who underwrote the publication. El Portal has been published since 1939.