when you tie rope and ribbon
for oscar lópez rivera
you make two knots
so that years and names
can climb up or down
uniting thick and thin threads
simplicities and opacities
tense and resolved dialectics
your eyes are closed fists
that guide your hands
so the ribbon may last centuries
or until we have no need
to unleash forces
or unarm states
Copyright Credit: Raquel Salas Rivera, "when you tie rope and ribbon" from X-Ex-Exis. Copyright © 2020 by Raquel Salas Rivera. Reprinted by permission of Bilingual Press/Editorial Bilingüe .
Source: X-Ex-Exis (University of Arizona Press, 2020)