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 stil 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 oxbox lake in this place where children stil 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