Six Visual Poems, August 2024
Page 1 (source text): U.S. Customs and Border Protection website. “Failure to Yield Results in Death.” https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/speeches-and-statements/failure-yield-results-death.
Page 1 (image): “Photograph of a Battered Road Sign.” National Archives Identifier: 2130565. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/2130565.
Page 2 (source text): U.S. Customs and Border Protection website. “CBP Statement on Death of 4-Year-Old Migrant in the Rio Grande Valley, Texas.” https://www.aila.org/files/o-files/view-file/EEC8AA8E-FA8C-4C93-8D33-A279F32A8912.
Pages 2 (image): “Military Photographer of the Year Winner 1998 Title: Eyes of Fear.” National Archives Identifier: 6504068. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/6504068.
Page 3 (source text): U.S. Customs and Border Protection website. “Statement from CBP Commissioner Chris Magnus Regarding the Transportation of Migrants to Washington, D.C.” https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/speeches-and-statements/statement-cbp-commissioner-chris-magnus-regarding-transportation.
Page 3 (image): U.S. Customs and Border Protection website. “Chris Magnus Commissioner, U.S. Customs and Border Protection.” https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chris_Magnus,_CBP_Commissioner.jpg. I drew the smiley face over the image.
Page 4 (source text): U.S. Customs and Border Protection website. “Man Dies Following Border Patrol Pursuit of Suspect.” https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/speeches-and-statements/man-dies-following-border-patrol-pursuit-suspect.
Page 4 (images): All the images come from “Hoffman Corpse – Coolers.” National Archives Identifier: 195999843. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/195999843.
Page 5 (source text): U.S. Customs and Border Protection website. “CBP Statement: Undocumented Migrants Drown Near Eagle Pass, TX.” https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/speeches-and-statements/cbp-statement-undocumented-migrants-drown-near-eagle-pass-tx.
Page 5 (image): “Medical Department-Supplies-Litters-Medical Department Ambulance and Litter Equipment.” National Archives Identifier: 45496404. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/45496404.
Page 6 (source text): U.S. Customs and Border Protection website. “Migrant Dies after Being Found in Medical Distress.” https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/speeches-and-statements/migrant-dies-after-being-found-medical-distress.
Page 6 (images): The map of Aguilares is from “1940 Census Enumeration District Maps – Texas – Webb County – ED 240-1 - ED 240-50B.” National Archives Identifier: 840104. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/5840104?objectPage=5. The circles were drawn by me.
D. Seth Horton was born on the border, wrote his dissertation on modernist literature in the American Southwest, and founded the anthology series, New Stories from the Southwest. His latest book is a forthcoming collection of experimental stories set throughout the U.S.-Mexico borderlands entitled, On a NASA Flight to Heaven (TCU Press, 2024). He has also reviewed books for the El Paso Times and currently serves on the editorial board of the journal, Southwestern American Literature. He has published more than eighty stories, poems, personal essays, and/or academic essays in places such as the Michigan Quarterly Review, Glimmer Train, and Western American Literature. Six of his stories have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. He teaches creative writing and American literature at the University of Virginia. He strongly recommends Border Angels.
