One of Benjamin Alire Saenz' characters resides at Concordia Cemetery. From Carry Me Like Water (1995), about Diego's friend, Mary, who met a violent death:
“[Mary’s] going to be buried at Concordia. That’s where they bury them, the people who don’t have anybody get buried at a section of Concordia. At least they’re still saving spaces in the ground for the Marys of the world.”
… Concordia was filled with weeds and trash delivered there by the El Paso wind. It looked more like a dump than a cemetery. It was only cleaned once a year when the prisoners from the county jail were let out to clean it, but that wasn’t until the summer, and it had been almost a year since its last cleaning, a year’s worth of old newspapers lying up against the gravestones.
For a moment, Concordia Cemetery distracted another character in the same book:
Driving down Interstate 10, Jake took the Juarez exit. He took his eyes off the road for a moment and stared down at Concordia Cemetery, the dead disturbed now by a freeway the locals called the spaghetti bowl. As the freeway curbed around, Juarez was straight ahead. It was so easy to get there, just get in the car, take an exit – Mexico – so easy, he thought.
You've dealt with prickers before. You've dealt with burrs
before. You've never dealt with anything like goatheads
before. These things are vicious. They go through heavy
duty tires with kevlar tube liners like they aren't even there.
And you simply cannot avoid them. They're everywhere,
and they're attracted to shoes, bicycle tires, and exposed flesh
as though magnetized!
Or this one: "... the most evil plant that has ever existed ... "
Or this one: "...They seem like a few stray, ground-hugging weeds overgrowing the middle
of the trail. Nothing to worry about you think! You've jumped stumps
higher than your helmet. You've descended rock-strewn cliffs that would
scare a mountain goat. You are not afraid of mere weeds! You will be."
I never actually met a goat head while I lived in New Mexico, but the descriptions of these tiny dried plantoids were scary, indeed.
Goat heads, Concordia Cemetery, El Paso, Texas. October 2016.
I never actually met a goat head until ..... I visited El Paso's Concordia Cemetery for the Dia de los Muertos festival.
My first introduction was a piercing little stab in the bottom of my foot. Pointy grain of sand got into my shoe? Noooo. When I removed my shoe, shook it out, and put it back on my foot, the little stab returned. Took the shoe off, turned it over to look at the sole, and there they were.
Goat heads, Concordia Cemetery, El Paso, Texas. October 2016.
Goat heads, Concordia Cemetery, El Paso, Texas. October 2016.
Goat heads, Concordia Cemetery, El Paso, Texas. October 2016.
Miraculously, only one tiny spear had worked its way through my sole, but all its friends were just waiting their turn to weasel in for a kill.
Goat heads, Concordia Cemetery, El Paso, Texas. October 2016.
