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

Source: With the River on Our Face (University of Arizona Press, 2016)