Archive of New Mexico Poetry – Alvaro Cardona-Hine

Memory’s Village

here the cemeteries
plunge
down the mountain
one is sure to be
buried
standing for rigor mortis

if you are a member
of this or that clan
you’ll have a backyard
full of plastic flowers
below the open beak
of the Sangres

those who can afford it
celebrate dying with taffeta skirts
with the lips of lilies

the poor
are buried in some socket
of ignorance

ignorant
until the last minute
when they let out a scream

it’s such a relief to die
when you have given birth
to so much that is
nothing

About the Poet
This poem is from a cycle “Memory’s Village” by Alvaro Cardona-Hine. It appeared in New Mexico Poetry Renaissance (Edited by Sharon Niederman and Miriam Sagan). Cardona-Hine’s most recent books include A History of Light and Thirteen Tangoes for Stravinsky, both from Sherman Asher Publishing.