“Retrograde,” 2/15 from 21st Century Retablo. 11.7″ x 16,” mixed-media on archival paper, 2005-06. Permanent collection, USC Fisher Museum of Art. (Unfortunately, I no longer have an acceptable digital image of this piece.)

POEM: retrograde

I stood at the edge of the fumarole, held in my hands/
the new formations of memory/
how hard it was/

so many were killed there     days spent in the heart-/
knife rivers     scattered around me, the lost/
feathers of blue birds                   bones of the dead were useless/
to protect against the happenstance of disaster     a handful of stones,/
the history of the beginning/

we cut our tongues/
how long the stream of blood/
the false sense of immortality, fortified/
daily with vigor       (I know it is hard, please believe me)/

take cover    she has sharpened her darts