Multi-Verse
Multi-Verse
Episode 7: William Archila on the Flicker of Thought
0:00
-27:19

Episode 7: William Archila on the Flicker of Thought

“Northern Triangle Dissected” and the psychological journeys of Central American minors seeking asylum

Hello Ears,

An image has been surfacing in William Archila’s recent poems: a blurred reflection in the mirror of a public restroom, somewhere south of the Mexico–United States border. The blur of that self-image is significant, William explains in Episode 7 of Multi-Verse: “You are in the process of losing who you were, in the process of becoming somebody else.”

The image appears in “Northern Triangle Dissected,” a poem from William’s new manuscript, as the credo of a long and dangerous journey:

That’s the only way to go.
No grasp of what it is like
to leave without wanting
to come back, to leave
without all you know, all you are,
as if the doctor has cut a wedge
out of the brain. It’s getting here
that makes it difficult to ignore,
the flicker of a thought
discarded like a cigarette.

In “Northern Triangle Dissected,” the migration of unaccompanied Central American minors seeking asylum is a psychological terrain with no road map: “out of / tangled hills of my mind, / without a guide on all / fours I walk.”

Listen, and listen again—

Evangeline


You can find the episode by clicking on one of the buttons below, or by searching “Multi-Verse” in your podcast app.

Listen on Apple Podcasts

Listen on Spotify

Listen on Pocket Casts

Listen on Stitcher


William Archila is the author of The Gravedigger’s Archaeology (Red Hen Press, 2015) and The Art of Exile (Bilingual Press/Editorial Bilingüe, 2009).

“Northern Triangle Dissected” is part of his new manuscript All Things Dark & Invisible. An earlier, slightly different version of the poem can also be found in Poetry.


Multi-Verse is a poetry podcast hosted and produced by Evangeline Riddiford Graham. To hear more poets share and discuss the poems they don’t usually read aloud, subscribe to Multi-Verse at Spotify, Apple PodcastsStitcher, Pocket Casts, SoundCloud, or visit multiversepoetry.org.

New to this newsletter? Click here to receive monthly Multi-Verse updates.

0 Comments
Multi-Verse
Multi-Verse
Welcome to Multi-Verse, a podcast that offers a listening space for poems usually confined to the page. With host Evangeline Riddiford Graham, poets read and discuss their writing, and unwind the multitude of meanings contained in every verse.