Napo #3

Today was a nice surprise -- it was the first meeting of Circulo de Poetas, a poetry collective that I hope will blossom and thrive in the coming months. There were poets from the university, poets from the community, students, new faces and old friends. We laughed, wrote, organized, ate and drank. All good things. 

So, for today's Napowrimo poem, I'll share a freewrite inspired by these lovely poets.

Love Poem to El Valle

I will miss you when I'm gone --

uprooted from this soil

my toes will always thirst for.

You've spoiled me with mild winters

the soft, warm breath of your January love,

your frothing ocean washing clean my toes,

the air thick with your citrus blossom perfume.

I've grown accustomed to your stern hand

of heat and the prick of your thorns,

the arid taste of your cloudless sky

sticking to my tongue in August.

You are my place of comfort and my prison,

the walls of Eden closing in

hugging me tight. You are the place

I'll come back to when I close my eyes,

wishing to return that plucked persimmon

to the leaning branch. 

Good tacos. Real chile. A mariachi's seranade

on my birthday. A warm kiss on the cheek

from a stranger, the soft sigh of a palm at dusk.

You are pico on the tongue

the ache of a grito burrowed

in the back of my throat

the fire in my belly raging,

burning to break loose 

and rage across the monte.

You, valley, 

have toughened my footsoles,

calloused my palms

darkened my skin

given me a taste for fire.

El Valle how can I leave you behind?

Your dust always on my boots,

your scent always on my skin,

your home siempre in my flesh.