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307 Luis Omar Salinas Ø were “shot through with a soft glory as of the fleece of the Lamb of God seen in mystical vision.” But the genetic text quoted in line 1 deconstructs this confident narrative. For example, what appears as “soft” was originally “dyed”—a quite different image. In Howe’s meditation on this scene in line 2, “the rea” may be short for “the real” or “the reason,” but in Latin it means a female defendant in a lawsuit. Perhaps “the rea” implies that the beautiful, inarticulate Billy Budd represents a feminine presence that the masculine law must extinguish. The next phrases, “after Though [though]That” may suggest “after that” or “afterthought”—especially if we view “[though]T” as a single word. Howe’s third line, “Fa,” may suggest the beginning of “Father” or of “False”—and thereby critique the law that kills Billy Budd. Later in the poem, the text states that administrative law is a fiction and that “Fathers dare not name me.” Alternatively, “Fa” may represent a note of music, as in the scale Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Ti Do. Perhaps it is one note in a song of lament. Howe’s poem breaks apart historical narratives to release a myriad of possible new meanings. Ma quotes Howe explaining that her poetry “has involved a breaking of boundaries of all sorts. It involves a fracturing of discourse, a stammering even. Interruption and hesitation used as a force.” The “chance meeting of words” that she arranges results in new ways of seeing. As she writes later in her poem, the “best ordered” establishment or codification “comes in pieces while the Narrative wanders.” This is the challenge at the heart of Howe’s poem. “Scattering as Behavior Toward Risk” invites us to revise the stories we have been told, the concepts that guide us. LUIS OMAR SALINAS 1937–2008 Luis omar salinas is regarded as one of the founders of contemporary Chicano poetry as well as an important social advocate. His first book, The Crazy Gypsy, became an anthem for many Chicano activists and is often considered a landmark in Chicano literature and culture. His poetry is by turns political, introspective , observant, and visionary. Salinas is associated with the Fresno school, which includes Philip Levine and Gary Soto and emphasizes working-class life evoked in free-verse monologues. Salinas’s writing has also been discussed in relation to the work of Spanish poet Federico García Lorca and Latin American poets Pablo Neruda and César Vallejo because of its combination of lyricism and surrealism. The poem included here reveals this lyrical voice. Born along the Texas-Mexico border in Robstown, Salinas lost his mother at the age of four and was adopted by his aunt and uncle. The family moved to Fresno, where he attended public schools. Later he attended Bakersfield City College; California State University, Los Angeles; and California State Ø Luis Omar Salinas 308 University, Fresno. Salinas published ten volumes of poetry in his lifetime. Among his prizes were the Stanley Kunitz Award and a General Electric Foundation Award. further reading Christopher Buckley. “Elegy for Desire: Luis Omar Salinas 1937–2008.” The Writer’s Chronicle , www.awpwriter.org (October/November 2008). Luis Omar Salinas. Darkness Under the Trees / Walking Behind the Spanish. Berkeley: Chicano Library Studies Publications, The University of California, 1982. — — — —. Elegy for Desire. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2005. — — — —. The Sadness of Days: Selected and New Poems. Houston: Arte Público Press, 1987. — — — —, ed. From the Barrio: A Chicano Anthology. San Francisco: Canfield Press, 1973. Gary Soto. “Luis O. Salinas: Chicano Poet.” MELUS 2 (Summer 1982): 47–82. My Father Is a Simple Man I walk to town with my father to buy a newspaper. He walks slower than I do so I must slow up. The street is filled with children. We argue about the price of pomegranates. I convince him it is the fruit of scholars. He has taken me on this journey and it’s been lifelong. He’s sure I’ll be healthy so long as I eat more oranges, and tells me the orange has seeds and so is perpetual; and we too will come back like the orange trees. I ask him what he thinks about death and he says he will gladly face it when it comes but won’t jump out in front of a car. I’d gladly give my life for this man with a sixth grade...

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