- Laredo Riviera, and: [no toronjas]
Laredo Riviera
I could love you all dayin the eye of a Laredo
swimming poolsky, ears under water.
Clouds can’t hearborder patrol’s canines
before they’re detainedbeside the river, our view
in that dusky almost stadiumlight. Two cities facing each
other. What is it to lovewithin viewing distance of night
vision glasses and guns, mudand the Republic of the Río Grande
museum? Tourists and churches,credit cards and elotes, we try
to forget our maquiladora conveniences,toast compañer@s and watch
Tejan@s dance, slide on sticky floors. Weimagine who lives with each other, who only
for the night. Euphoriamore ancient than any vow. Earth
is earth. And kryptonite,kryptonite. You and me, me and you. [End Page 169]
[no toronjas]
No toronjas this drought.Creamy flower blossoms arrive late, no fruit.White like the pith we once tore with plump sections from the peel.Nepantla where it is bittersweetish.
Nepantla without toronjasLike a season missed. Youin a city somewhere digging car out of frozen snow. Bed
at nightfall. I withholdwatering toronjas like I withhold my tongue, here
where it is sweetbitter- sweet. I would water them
with the slush of your winter thaw if you too would onlyspeak. [End Page 170]
Pérez, Emmy is the author of a poetry collection titled Solstice (Swan Scythe Press, 2011, 2nd edition). Her work has also appeared in the anthologies The Wind Shifts: New Latino Poetry; New Border Writing; A Broken Thing: Poets on the Line; and numerous journals, including North American Review; Mandorla; The Laurel Review; PALABRA: A Magazine of Chicano & Latino Literary Art; and Pilgrimage Magazine. She is the recipient of the Alfredo Cisneros del Moral Foundation Award and a CantoMundo poetry fellowship. She is also a member of the Macondo Writers Workshop founded by Sandra Cisneros for socially-engaged writers. Currently, she is Associate Professor at the University of Texas Pan-American in the Río Grande Valley, where she teaches Creative Writing and Mexican American Studies courses. In 2012, she received a University of Texas Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award.