cardboard fieldworkers

in the salinas valley

field Owners paint giant

Cardboard field workers,

reverse scarecrows for

real field workers,

& order them:

convince them they could be

as happy as you.

the Cardboard field workers

smile & wave from the fields;

they hand you iceberg lettuce

& invite you to stay:

         aquí hay trabajo.

real field workers

cash paychecks for only half their work

cause the majordomo

threatened to call ICE

Cardboard field workers

tell you that salinas is

‘the salad bowl of the world’

isn't that cute?

real field workers

discover the lesser known title

         ‘california's youth murder capital’

                  after their sons are murdered

                  no one knows if the bullet was

                  cop or rival cholo

Cardboard field workers

invite you to their three bedroom home

for carne asada.

eat up! hay pa todos!

real field workers

are evicted from the one bedroom

they share with their three children

& develop diabetes     they can't afford

the vegetables they pick

Cardboard field workers

show you pictures of their kids—

         Juan's at Cal

         Maria's at UCLA

both of them got full rides!

& real field workers?

forced to send their kids to

crowded schools, where

principals care more about

         graduation statistics

         than teaching

Cardboard field workers

make retirement plans:

         cancún or san salvador?

         antigua? copán?

         porque no todos?

real field workers

work til their bodies break.

the salad packing plant

fires & sues to withhold compensation.

they die dreaming of the pueblo

they were born in.

Marcos Damián León is a teacher and writer from the Salinas Valley. He is working on a young adult novel about two boys deciding what kind of men they want to be. His work has appeared in The LA Review of Books, The Acentos Review, under the gum tree, and The Monterey County Weekly. He can be found @damleon on Instagram and @damleon24 on Twitter.