THE WRITERS POST (ISSN: 1527-5467) the magazine of Literature & Literature-in-translation. VOLUME 7 NUMBER 2 JUL 2005

KHE IEM _______________________________ A DEATH ON TELEVISION Translated by Do Vinh AP. -- MRS. ROSA GONZALEZ SAW HER SON’S BODY ON THE ARAB NEWS-CHANNEL AL-JAZEERA ON SUNDAY MORNING, AND THE NEXT DAY SHE WAS NOTIFIED THAT HER SON HAD BEEN KILLED IN ACTION. “I SAID POOR, POOR BOYS. THEY FELL THERE. BUT WHEN I SAW THE FACE, IT WAS THAT OF MY SON,” CPL. JORGE A. GONZALEZ, 20 YEARS OLD, WAS ASSIGNED TO THE 1^ST BATTALION, 2^ND MARINE REGIMENT, 2^ND MARINE EXPEDITIONARY BRIGADE, IN CAMP LEJEUNE, NORTH CAROLINA. MARRIED TO JUZTY, 25 YEARS OLD; HIS SON ALONSO, BORN MARCH 4, 2003, SEVERAL WEEKS BEFORE HE WAS DEPLOYED FOR COMBAT IN THE MIDDLE EAST. END OF NEWS FLASH. END. THE END. SILENCE. CAN NOT BE SILENT. AND A POEM, READ RYTHMICALLY, LIKE A PRAYER... The woman sees the death of her own son on the screen but does not believe that her son is dead, and even though the news came like a storm about the death of her son, she does not believe what she saw; no one received the news and recognized the death of her son and she also could not understand even her own pain because that is only a partial death on the screen and in the news, and the pain is only a partial pain; the story both real and unreal about a son in times of war continues to be told without ever quitting like the pain shivering in her heart; her son dead or alive, no one could know what is behind the death of a young soldier leaving a wife and a newborn child growing up without a father other than a letter remaining “And if you can wait just a little longer, I’ll be there as soon as the war ends.” “I’ll be there…” no one could understand except the woman swallowing her pain waiting another death of her own in order to be with the son losing the way home, and her memories fading for more than once she does not believe what she saw -- the death of her son. March 27—2003. Translated by Do Vinh The Writers Post the magazine of literature & literature-in-translation, founded 1999, based in the US. VOLUME 7 ISSUE 2 JULY 2005 Editorial note: Works published in this issue are simultaneously published in the printed Wordbridge magazine (ISSN: 1540-1723). Copyright © Khe Iem 2005. Nothing in this magazine may be downloaded, distributed, or reproduced without the permission of the author/ translator/ artist/ The Writers Post/ and Wordbridge magazine. Creating links to place The Writers Post or any of its pages within other framesets or in other documents is copyright violation, and is not permitted. Return to Contents HOME