Summary

Carolyn summarizes the next few years of her life, which she describes as “turmoil” (335). She moves to the East Coast, teaches at universities, publishes her second book of poems, and begins traveling the country to speak about the war in El Salvador. She speaks in colleges and universities, bookstores, churches, synagogues, community centers, and “anyone anyone would listen, and everywhere people seemed responsive” (336). Any time that Carolyn grows frustrated, she thinks back to the words that Monseñor once told her: “We must hope without hoping. We must hope when we have no hope” (336).

She covers her walls with maps and news clippings from the war in El Salvador. Her path crosses again with the American photographer, whose name is Harry. They begin sleeping together and eventually marry. He tells her the story of one of his photographs, of “soldiers posing for his...