“
Now reading
The River on Our Face
With el río grande~bravo
in our face
This river
at its mouth
at its source
With you at its source
its sources
With you at the snow
the evergreens
The million earth holes
of water emerging
emerald
Snakes, Gloria Anzaldúa's
grave
With this river
on our face
Neon green anole
swells its throat
pink-white
El río bravo~
grande on its face
Ocelots hunt
under six
foot shrub
canopies
With the drive
of the Continental Divide
with the pull
of tributaries
in their limbs
Chicharras
whining in the shade
rivers
in their timbals
Females laying eggs
in branches
The young border patrol officer
flashes sirens daily
lifts his gun
with the river
on his face
Upriver, Chihuahua
desert ancestors'
adobe bricks stand up
crumble down
With el río grande~bravo
on our face
You said you loved
the river
on my face
You said headwaters
the source
el río grande
rises from its source
saw the lines around
our mouths
saw adobe-brick lines
exposed
Monsoon season
granizo pelting
the facades
at its source
in my mouth
adobe mud
bricks in my mouth
the earth
holes, the sources
the snow
avalanches
granizo
Río Conchos de México
grandmothers'
Cueva de la Olla
at our face
Tarahumara
Rarámuri
Tidal confluences
in our face
Some crossed
with nuns during la
revolución
el río bravo~grande
on their face
Relatives
disappear
die detained
with tributaries
of many rivers on their face
In Ciudad Juárez, a mother hoped
her missing daughter
married a rich American
with the river far away
Constant helicopters finding heat
with the river as the source
To the west, crossers lift the tortilla
curtain
Walk deserts without water
on their face
Guanajuato ancestors crossed through Cali
with mirages
in their face
While
I shower daily
with el valle
river water on my face
Thank you and kiss you daily
Julia de Burgos
with el Río Grande de Loíza
Puerto Rico in your face
Julia
I can now speak of hurricanes
and being a dog at someone's feet
I remember El Paso's Inca doves
burrowing owls in the morning
barn owls in El Valle's cemeteries
great horned owl and mockingbirds
Harris hawks and pauraques
vecinos carrying signs
two communities
"¡No al muro!"
"¡Segundo Barrio no se vende!"
with the river on their face
A daughter and mother want their ashes
scattered
at Boca Chica
the river's mouth
the end, the start
another source
crabs collapsing
into bullets bursting out of holes
carrizo, bugambilia
seeds petals paper
rose
raspas
the mouth
the eddies
the tributaries
the flow
Río Conchos de México
the snow
granizo
the pelts
the sources
rising
The confluence
of people and god
tortugas
ribbon snakes in Roma
pigs and piglets jumping
from banks
with the river on their face
You can hear roosters
crowing across
the water in Miguel Alemán
Hurricanes
disturb unsettled graves
with the river in our face
You said you don't want archaic chains
lowering you loudly with obvious labor six feet in
You want to hear the cool chachalacas
with the river on their legs
flapping
from ébano to ébano
el chalán
the ropes
the pull
over green
water
under
blue sky
to Díaz Ordaz
I want to hear parrots
sabal palms
try again
With the river on our face
I want no medicine
no ambition
with the river in my face
I used to love you
with the river in my face
I still love you
when the river's on my face
I made a foot-deep grave
with the river on my face
I loved other rivers
with el río grande~bravo on my face
I want to oxbow lake
in this place where children still speak and lose
multiple tongues
in this place where we still lose and grow
forked tongues
this place where white herons hunt and drink in the resacas
this place with el río grande~bravo
in its pipes
in its lungs
in our face