Arrival Departure Arrival

The following are poetry excerpts from “Your Heart My Sky” written by Margarita Engle

Departure-Wisconsin

Paz has taught me

that memory is a library

of scents and flavors, while fear

is a warehouse of hungers,

so I try to show an interest in Liana’s whimsical effort to imagine

a future of creative opportunities. . .

-Excerpt ‘The Gardener’s Heart-Amado’ pg. 144

Why did I connect with these poems?

For doubt and faith

In steel

Cast in all its forms,

Awkward and swift slicing

Open.

Arrival-Israel

The people we love are simply family,

she assures me, not complex

inexplicable

historical

ideals.

-Excerpt-‘Silence is a Form of Protest-Amado’ pg. 196

For the glint of blue stretched wide

Above brown dug just deep enough.

I hold onto precious metals,

Plane wings,

Hoe and shovel.

Departure-Wisconsin

. . . but all I really trust

is my own two hands

in deep soil

pulling weeds

and feeding roots

with a shower

of generous

sweat.

-Excerpt ‘The Gardener’s Heart-Amado’ pg. 144

Why did I connect with these poems?

They are rooted

In that which is close to me,

And that which is far away,

Though I struggle

To know the difference.

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