Red-Inked Retablos

Title Page, Copyright

Red-Inked Retablos Camino del Sol A Latina and Latino Literary Series Tucson Red-Inked Retablos RigobertoGonzález © 2013 Rigoberto González All rights reserved www.uapress.arizona.edu Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data González, Rigoberto. Red-inked retablos / Rigoberto González. p. cm. — (Camino del sol: a Latina and Latino literary series) ISBN 978-0-8165-2135-7 (pbk. : alk. paper) I. Title. PS3557.O4695A6 2013 814’.54—dc23 2012031238 Publication of this book is made possible in part by the proceeds of a permanent endowment created with the assistance of a Challenge Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, a federal agency. Manufactured in the United States of America on acid-free, archival-quality paper containing a minimum of 30% post-consumer waste and processed chlorine free. 18 17 16 15 14 13 6 5 4 3 2 1 Forever My Poet-Girl Roxana Rivera Y que en paz descansen, Prima Verónica y Primo Daniel If I could fly, I’d soar above my neighborhood. I’d spread my arms and slice the space between rooftops and ghetto-bird, mapping all the little altars flickering over blood stained into concrete. I’d soar off the ledge of a helipad, going higher and higher until the constellation of altars turns into an image I can understand. —Roxana Rivera, “Constellations” ...