Richard Vargas: Pick of the Week [ed. Terence Winch]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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13 Angels Rising

 “Starting early in February investigators recovered 13 sets of skeletal remains from a once-remote section of mesa now being developed as a residential subdivision. Four have been identified… They are among a list of 16 women reported missing between 2001 and 2006.”  —Local Albuquerque TV news, krqe.com, 3/27/09

 

they say good is greater than evil
and if it is then the dead
shall rise and walk again
right out of their Westside graves
past the tracts of generic
cardboard neighborhoods
past the cars cruising Central Ave
driven by men with bloodshot eyes
and Budweiser breath who wave
dollar bills in the air
like honey coated flypaper

and if so inclined the dead
will reinvent their renewed lives
so that closed fists open up
become soft as pillows where
dreams of violence fade away
the way a bruise heals when
kissed by a seraph’s lips

families, babies, and friends rejoice
embrace their return from
the eternal night
the cruel night
especially now as
the sun’s light
shines down and
warms the sidewalk
beneath their feet

especially now as butterfly wings
with a gossamer sheen sprout
from the satin skin stretched
over once battered
shoulder blades
healed and whole

especially now as they
show us how to fly
and rise above the
nature of our sin

not a moment too soon
to come back and save
us from ourselves

inclined to walk unafraid
among the demons we
all have within
and show us

how like a pebble
dropped in water
calm and still
our inhumanity
ripples outward
touching one
and all

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Richard Vargas earned his BA at Cal State University, Long Beach, where he studied under Gerald Locklin and Richard Lee. He edited/published five issues of The Tequila Review, 1978–1980, and twelve issues of The Mas Tequila Review from 2010–15. Vargas received his MFA in creative writing from the University of New Mexico, 2010. He was recipient of the 2011 Taos Summer Writers’ Conference Hispanic Writer Award. He was on the faculties of the 2012 10th National Latino Writers Conference and the 2015 Taos Summer Writers’ Conference. Published collections: McLife, 2005; American Jesus, 2007; Guernica, revisited, 2014; How A Civilization Begins (MouthFeel Press, Summer 2022). He currently resides in Wisconsin, near the lake where Otis Redding’s plane crashed. [For more on Richard Vargas, click here.] 

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Seven Angels Pouring Vials of the Wrath of God upon the Earth. By a British School Painter influenced by William Blake. 19th century.

 

Comments

[Elinor Nauen]

I won’t shake this one loose in a hurry.

Thanks, Terence, for yet another fantastic choice.

[Jack Skelley]

LOvely, moving... Thank you, Richard and Terence... !

[Grace Cavalieri]

I sincerely hope so!

[Terence Winch]

Elinor: Glad you liked it.

[Terence Winch]

Jack: Thanks for the comment.

[Clarinda]

What elinor said. Yes. I would hope that Humanity will ripple as in the last lines someday.

[Don Berger]

An urgent poem fortified by expertly measured lines maintaining a language common to us. There's an impressive directness and also willingness to let the poem extend into the metaphorical realm, and I really like how Vargas resists the most predictable response to the tragedy he addresses.

[David Lehman]

The poem and art lift my spirits, which have lately been low; phrases "like honey coated flypaper," "kissed by a seraph’s lips," raise me above the "nmature of ouir sin." Bravo.

[Mary Louise Kiernan]

The phrase “man’s inhumanity to man” came to mind. I searched to find it is from a Robert Burn’s poem. It would remiss to mention (wo)man’s inhumanity to (wo)man. Or maybe human’s inhumanity to humans…. This poem made me sigh.

[Bill Nevins]

"especially now as they
show us how to fly"
Beautiful sadness here in this poem, Richard. The reality of New Mexico beyond the lovely enchantment.
Thanks for choosing and posting, Terence.

[Eileen Reich]

Lovely poem.

[Terence Winch]

Bill: thanks back to you.

[Susan Campbell]

He nailed it.

[Beth J.]

Deftly making something real, beautiful and effective out of something most of us don't want to linger on. Genius.

[Peter Kearney]

The 13 skeletal remains become 13 angels who warm our lives and our hearts, Then they marvelously sprout wings and lead us aloft to see how far-reaching is the sin we commit. This awareness can rescue us from the evil in which we were immersed, a truth aptly expressed in this moving poem.

[Richard Vargas]

I want to thank everyone for the feedback and comments. Most of all, for taking the time to read and ponder. I feel it is necessary to clarify the fact that while initial reports counted the remains of thirteen women, it was later revised to eleven. The cases have never been solved. This poem will be included in my next book, to be published in 2023.

[Linda Hickman]

I love this. All the visual imagery and the total upliftment into Divine Consciousness. It is probably one of the favorite poems I have read in ages and ages. Thank you Terence and thank you Richard.

[Terence Winch]

Linda: Thanks for the comment.