LatinosUSA

stranger

exiled language exiled
spirits who listen
to far off voices questions
what why sea
green the world happens
we write in notebooks
on amate on papyrus
sweat clay sperm
letters and pictures of
unknown flora fauna
weaknesses for the
strange weakness for
conquest arriving
and burning boats
sacrificed and fire
animals children
say no and no and no
all in flames
in waves and terror
meditation beads the
gods and heroes
seeded teeth in the
earth paper and
breath and dreams
of return heavy clouds
first thunder then
lightning it’s bloodless
disappear and
our ever weakening
arms hands legs
spiral high we
keep moving
destiny and chains
we never get it
right ongoing music
orchestra divided
by the which of our
regretting and the how

***

smaller shadows

morning path
revolution of tigers
casting revolutions of
flowers revolutionary
days brimstone calls
to order to soldiers
who go off to other
sides of the world
home provides
beer arsenic
how to love
God if I don’t
love you the
calling cards of
change our actions
speak louder
than words thresh
cantar desert olvidar
they trumpet naked
before the gods
chocolate and calla
lilies we kiss naked
before the night
Pacific and poppies
what to tell the
lives coming home
what to say about
undone and grace
it’s okay to stop
okay to go
these paths we
make forever
strewn with
spices roses
calling cicadas
scattered orchids
a wild sun

***

without wings

						Si hubiera Dios no
						existirían los humanos..
							
							—José Emilio Pacheco

world made we
made the world
God world the
wastrel world
vaudeville vagabond
wasted cried for
out cried against
to with what’s it
like to be human
apostles of peace and
war apostle epistles
no missive
to the world like
jacaranda lilac
lily of the canyon
this world deals in
princes of peace aces
of spades why do
we all have
to be in this together
cast one vote
for one king two votes
for the lady in
black the lady in white
the sacred brawls between
the bandit children and
the children of bandits
I haven’t stolen
anything today (yet) I
haven’t had a
drink watched a
movie blamed anyone
in the news for
anything (yet)
we fall to infernos
we have no wings the
waves and wind
swallow and snake
us to our homes
we fail ourselves
amaze each other
our countless worlds
upside down I
hear sirens call a
rooster accordion
I can hear the
temporary violin slither
dream footsteps
of furies and cheats
the bastards come
embroidered in flight
I’m out the
door and on the
road a bandit prayer
hemlock and bread
you’ll get nothing from
me I’ve given all
I’m headed south
come with come
along come gone

Copyright © 2025 Mark Statman
All Rights Reserved

***

Volverse/Volver (Becoming/Return) is the third of Mark Statman’s metaphysical, lyrical Mexican books, one in which he «addresses our historical moment, his dual life in Mexico and the U.S., and the intimacies, personal and environmental, that bind us to others and to the world.» (Jesse Lee Kercheval). The exile and home of the hechizo worlds deepen with weight and counterweights, liberations and deliberations, of life, death, landscape and breath.

Now available to buy from:

The publisher, Lavender Ink/diálogos (US purchases):
https://www.lavenderink.org/site/shop/volverse-volver/

Your local bookstore

Amazon (US and international purchases):
https://www.amazon.com/Volverse-Volver-Mark-Statman/dp/1956921451/