Crossing over the desert brow
spare ranges, sparse rivers
I see the red lights south & how softly they wave their fingers
Who are all these places we call home?
Do all our roots have voices we can simply call or cut off?
The pecan tree coughs fruit
onto to the ground,
mockingbirds sing for the bounty
in my mind they dance iridescent, but they are black
in my mind the oranges always orange, but they are green
the roses — gone
the tree & viny terrace — gone
the dog — gone, resting infinite in the roses
the long, long table at Guadalajara ever shorter
illness chopping at the end like a mill, daily
Why did I go? Why did I go?
In my mind I never left and that’s the problem
But I’m not here But I’m not here
for these rocky waters (in my mind) an endless ocean
for these rocky waters (in my mind) in the eye of a storm
(in my mind) is there anything I can offer
other than to tend the irrigation
to patch the roof
to pick the oranges
to offer my words
When I am home, I offer my silly, silly words (ocean endless)
I offer my meager hours to share your table (ocean endless)
to receive your stories (ocean endless)
to get your advice on care for my chiles though the mulberries
blanketed them with flies and rot months ago
Tell me —
tell me that one again
you were how old when you rode your first plane?
looking out over the fields of tomato
your head in the hum, their red in the dirt
did they look like fireworks? •
John-Francis Quiñonez (they/them) is a Desert Blossom // Resident of The Dirt Palace in Providence, RI // maker of Ice Creams with Big Feeling // Be-coveralled Aunt Figure & Events Guardian at Lost Bag // proud member & organizer at Binch Press & Queer.Archive.Work. // & is thinking (constantly) about emerging “RE: HELLO EARTH” appears in Keep Your Little Lights Alive (poems after Kate Bush’s ‘Hounds of Love’ and others), available at Heartleaf & Riffraff Bookstore & Bar. Also at Riffraff , you can view a collection of their paintings entitled “i won’t wait to love you”, on display from September to November. Gallery opening is Sept. 29th. SUNDAE MONDAYS (A Big Feeling Ice Cream series) are held at Bolt Coffee Co. (Washington St.) every Monday until they open their first brick & mortar!
