"It wasn’t a rumor. It was true. My great grandfather flew beside Pancho Villa. There was no gold unless it was in the teeth. Is it possible for the airiness of dust to be a kind of common gold?
Heavy on eyelashes or wings palpitating to release particles of horse hooves, cracked leather, the part of the land no one lays claim to. A casualty brought by walking with the folded gold
of a corn tortilla in one hand. The other wanting to point at great grandfather’s noiseless flight. The thing Pancho Villa told his men to do at night. To be an owl and keep the gold
masked in the mouth. The only drop of light should come from the guns aimed at the sleeping soldiers. The jewelry of the bandolier’s beaming bullets hung from the chest in salute and gold.
My great grandfather was shot out of the sky, still alive. The federales pulled out his feathers and kept him conscious for three days before they stopped the wind from his throat in the gold
of midday. Where sweat, blood, and the fluid that can no longer be called tears turned the dust into mud. His dead wings hidden with corn husks by my great grandmother, a golden
eagle before she disappeared and allowed the moon to reflect off her forehead in chorus. The talons of her husband who’s call and response had not been preserved in a ring of gold.
She ascends to the heavens to braid the plumage of my great grandfather Jacinto into Orion’s belt. When I look up I say, Rico and wait for her wings and his eyes to recognize me with a flash of gold.
"Often, I think about my ancestors, and I try to imagine what it was like for them growing up at the end of the Mexican Revolution. I asked my father to tell me this story over a hundred times, and because of this, I found it important to return to my initial need for repetition. I wanted to bring back the wonder and awe I had as a child."
Nick Ripatrazone highlights nine notable collections published this month. They range from "one of the best debuts of the year" from Joy Priest to new work from Ted Kooser, of whom Ripatrazone writes, "Few poets can continue to reveal the world book after book like Kooser."
Poetry Daily stands with the Black community. We oppose racism, oppression, and police brutality. We will continue to amplify diverse voices in the poetry world. Black Lives Matter.
"Most of all, however, Curt was interested in cement, its powerful malleability. Cement could allow you to fashion new things never before seen on the landscape, or it could just as well slink back to imitate the forms that were already there. I, on the other hand, was not a ready fan of this material. I couldn’t deny that it disgusted me, had always disgusted me, but now especially, when the hum of construction was all-present in Indian cities as to never stop. Cement was simply a mainstay in the air we breathed."
