"Wrong Door Raid" by John Beechem

This poem is inspired by the daughters of Thomas and Rosalie Avina.  These girls were 11 and 14 years old in 2007. That year, DEA agents mistakenly raided the Avinas’ home while executing a search warrant in pursuit of a suspected drug trafficker.  Unfortunately, clumsily, violently, they raided the wrong house.  During the raid, the DEA agents woke the girls from sleep.  They instructed the girls to lay on the floor, facedown.  The youngest daughter was in such a shocked panic, she was unable to obey, even to get of her bed.  Agents yelled at her to “Get down on the fucking ground!”  She was dragged from her bed and hand-cuffed at gunpoint.  It was only when agents realized their mistake that they let her go. 

This incident is briefly described in the November 10, 2013 issue of The Nation.

Wrong Door Raid by John Beechem

I hear a sound
It’s the heaviest slamming door

BOOM!  But it slams open

Not shut, and it takes the frame

Out with it

Splintered wood

Sounds like broken rulers

Metal and tree exploding together

Broken windows

The crunch of boots on glass

Like when mi hermana  

Chews lemonade ice

Voices of angry men

They are the worlds’

Scariest gym teachers but with

Black bullet-proof vests

And machine guns

One of them points the barrel

Of his gun at me

I see into its black mouth

Wait for its lead breath

Time stops

Lets me imagine everything I

Ever could have
Ever done

To make this happen

Like when I was three,

Our gold fish looked bored

So I climbed up on the couch

Put him in a cup

Brought him to some water

Pooled next to our house’s
Front side-walk

Dropped him in

Went back inside

Hours later, Mi hermana

Asked where he went

When I told her, we went out to look

He’d baked in the

Afternoon’s sunshine

No more pets for three years

Mi hermana teased me for it

Pushed me into puddles for years

This could be the vengeance of Pisces

Or when I was nine,

And my family and my friend

Carlos’s family went camping

At the lake together

His hermana was friends with mi hermana

I’d known Carlos since before I could remember

He felt kind of like a brother or a cousin

But also very much not like my cousins

So when we snuck off to our hiding spot in the 

Woods I dared him to take his swimsuit off

And he did.  And I was not afraid

So when he dared me, I did too

And we saw all of each other

Exciting, dangerous, and kind of Roller-Coaster

Scary, as we dug for bugs and rocks and stared

We thought we were so sneaky

Our mothers came and found us with

Swimsuits half on and half off

Pulled on from the moment

We heard the crunch of twigs

They were red-faced and angry

Carlos started crying, I closed my eyes

In shame and walked out of there

Mi hermana never found out, but Carlos

And I could only see each other at school

When our sisters and their mothers went out,

Carlos and I had to stay home with our
Fathers or abuelitas

This could be our mothers’ wrath

Or it could be because of Mr. Brisby’s test

In October, it was about the New England

Colonies, and witches, and American Indian Tribes and 

I knew it all, because I like to read and the 

Tribes had very cool names like

Iroquois and Pequot.  Amelia sat next to me, 

And she barely knew any of it ‘cause 

Reading is hard for her, and 

Mr. Brisby is a jerk and

Makes her feel stupid for it, so she

Doesn’t really try

But everyone likes her, ‘cause she’s

Good for the other teachers, and

She asked me to let her cheat

So I did, because F- Mr. Brisby, right?

We didn’t get caught.  I let her copy

Made her get a couple wrong on purpose

I know how to make it not obvious

And I like Amelia, and don’t want her to get in trouble. 

So maybe did the school catch on

And this is what they do to sixth-grade cheaters?  

These days, this could be Mr. Brisby’s
Goon-squad

But when I come to, I’m on the floor shaking

In my sleep clothes, and someone is taking 

hand-cuffs off me. My mother is crying, my 

Father is cursing under his breath

The angry gym teachers are bristling mustaches 

And grunted apologies, thought we had drugs

One of them cusses and says something about 

“Illegals” and mi hermana tells him we're not, 

and my father curses at her and tells her to

Shut up