Mark of Cain
I think about
the people
my cross-hairs
passed over
& all the reasons
on the way to work
family in the car
It didn't feel right
foot slipped off the brake
confusion at a checkpoint
So even when I planned to
my dad on his way to work
broken family around the dinner table
I couldn't
Back then, it was like the sun
drove out all thought
turning mind tabula rasa
The desert like a brand
searing Cain's question
and the mark God left him
as an answer
Art by Mala Calaña
Mala Calaña is Benjamin Estrada, 28 years old from Nicaragua, known in the world of graffiti and art as Mala Canaña. He belongs to a group of collective mural artists called Mad Crew and is part of an illustrative study called La Ratonera Estudio. He believes that art is a fundamental tool for change and social transformation, and so creates works of art with a critical message, at the same time becoming a proposal for transforming our environment. Find him on Instagram @espiritu_d_contradiccion.
Jason Arment served in Operation Iraqi Freedom as a Machine Gunner in the USMC. He's earned an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. His work has appeared in Narrative Magazine, The Iowa Review, Gulf Coast, Lunch Ticket and more; and is forthcoming in the 2017 Best American Essays collection. University of Hell Press will publish his memoir Musalaheen in 2017. Jason lives in Denver, where he coordinates the Denver Veterans Writing Workshop with the Colorado Humanities and Lighthouse. He can be reached at jason.arment@gmail.com.