Remedios II, Water
for Tiana Suazo
Poem by Karen Vargas
we play all day beneath
heavenly shade of
cottonwood
cotton drifting down
in swirls of manna
from above
warm breeze glimmers
sunlight and shadows
of tree leaves across us
we sit on the small
wooden bridge, dirty
jeans rolled up to
our knees
water from Carlota’s
acequia rushes beneath
us to her orchards of
peach trees
further downfield brown Parciantes
fling seed giving birth to dry fields wait
for a share of compuerta’s small flood
we have spent our entire lives under
this vast moving sky, in this mountain’s wake
waiting for our share, waiting for the rain
waiting for monsoons, praying they will come
if you have two peaches, you only get one
if you have one, then you only get half
waiting for our share, two half suns
sweet juice rivulets down arms, receive
our share, then fling the pit back to God
Karen Vargas is from northern New Mexico. Her poetry and short stories have been published in Epoch, Catamaran Literary Reader, Borderlore Journal, La Palabra: The Word is a Woman series, and others. She is a Plain View Fellow, and the recipient of a Truman Capote Award, a Taos Resident Writers Award, and a Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundation residency. She plans on applying to the MFA in Creative Writing program at IAIA in 2023.