The scent of ham permeates Aracena.
Not far from here cork trees grow in la dehesa.
Zalema viejo stains her lips. She could drink more
of it when oak roots first sensed gravity low in la dehesa.
Her head hums with returning migratory birds and
Copper Demoiselles. Hope goes unmown in la dehesa.
Bougainvillea spreads across whitewashed buildings,
entangles with the past at their edges just so in la dehesa.
Here, history gets devoured like acorns — a feast
for red, black, and spotted pigs that roam across la dehesa.
Their flesh now prized and categorized, their flesh
then symbolized the demarcation known in la dehesa,
where warring monarchs claimed castles, repurposed
mezquitas as churches in the shadow of la dehesa.
Long pruned to grow horizontally, forest trees
and urban areas are betrothed by la dehesa.
Tonight at twilight her chest balloons in prayer
as she reaches an alcornocal alone in la dehesa.
