AWP Chicago 2009 #1: Palabra Pura, One Poem Festival, at Jazz Showcase
Featuring: Lisa Alvarado, Carlos Cumpian, Silvia Curbelo, Gina Franco, Gabe Gomez, Irasema
Gonzalez, Maurice Kilwein Guevara, Gabriela Jauregui, Olivia Maciel, Carl Marcum, Valerie
Martínez, Orlando Ricardo Menes, Achy Obejas, Daniel A. Olivas, Johanny Vasquez Paz, Paul
Martinez Pompa, Linda Rodríguez, Jacob Saenz, Jorge Sánchez and Juan Manuel Sanchez.
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Maribel won't let me be.
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Snow light, blank day at the window, the pause that arrives after violence when there is time to poke around in the wake and wonder what you believe. Time to turn the bodies over with the long stick you've found useful on your walks. For pushing through water, afloat on reflecting light. For leaning into your work. For having something to do with your hands in private. For killing flies. For stretching into both sides of the bed. Now it is time to put the stick to real use, to use it for what it was made for. You will hang from it, that is clear now, whether you put it down or not, but not before you've watched the others be hung in front of you, which way you go.
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