6th-8th grade

Again, an ousted child or orphan happens onto a den.
It happens then. Invitation by faun or badger to…

December. In Odesa,
power stations, shelled.
Your father’s friend
shivers in his apartment
crammed with …

The redolence of rose and new road.
The attar of grass, recently cut.
The fish-whiff of anchovy.
The spinning…

No
I don’t dance horses
I am not a mariachi
I am not a baile folklorico dancer
I am not the half-time show…

There is a framed photograph of my grandmother
She is a young woman, sitting on a horse, vestida de china…

I am a feminist who loves my sport
and the machismo in charrería often gets to me

To be clear
I am not …

Brother charro
do you realize
that it is because of escaramuza
that you have an audience?

Our performances…

they announce us      Valentina Covarrubias montada en Viento
my girl does not cower           does not wave or smile…

chahóółhxeel
sǫ’ bitsádinidiin
nahookǫs bikǫ’
binaago deikaah
sǫ’ binahjį’
hane’ náás oot’ih

Well she actually said
if you were an Ewok I would rescue you and name you Sunshine
build you a tiny…

night drapes
stars emit light
around the north star-fire
stars journey
in their wake
stories extend…

 rain passed through

 just now
 rain

 chxósh

chxósh

 chxósh

 chxósh

 rain rained

now
 rainbow
 stretches

water   …

 ániid nahóółtą́

 ániidigo
 nahóółtą́ą

 chxósh

chxósh

 chxósh

 chxósh

 naanahóółtą́

k’ad
 nááts…

Late in May as the light lengthens
toward summer the young goldfinches
flutter down through the day for…

As a quiet little seedling
    Lay within its darksome bed,
To itself it fell a-talking,
    And this is what…

When the shoe strings break
On both your shoes
And you're in a hurry—
That's the blues.   When you go…