A Cartography of Passions

1996 i. here: our forsaken home mesa breaks desert dialing curve of mountain territory of anthropology of the outlaw where you taught me how to shoot that .22 real good rifle butt steadied against the shoulder socket a wild pulsing third arm postures of stillness and reserve practiced cunning of the predator in the end         shattered bottles among cowering piñones here: the natives have never been safe ii. curious sentimental boy intent on the romance of expedition clever cynical woman intent on the Romantic trope mi cielo mi mar mi luna mi tierra language of Spanish occupation diligent engineers we divide and enter mapping for future travels the sheets marked, desk cluttered: pencil shavings graphs incomplete stanzas metaphors and equations of isolated fixed points like Malinches we are left harboring the remains of one another's labor iii. la migra       your mind skilled at expulsion vigilant surveillance those refused entry interest me those forced to settle elsewhere ours is a patrolled encounter my mind is what interests you creases of cerebrum     electric streams coursing through these fissures a landscape ripe for excavation you are brother to Isabella in devices and commands always the agenda the missionary plans and like the others you will insist on exile and I am no Circe no magical powers no victim of narrative just a woman with these few words a woman who has peered through the barrel of a loaded gun leaving nothing intact