“Mi Revolución”

by René Saldaña, Jr.

from I, Too, Am America: The New Chicano Sonnets

for Le-Ann Alaniz

A fingerful of you,
Wet, on the top of my tongue.
You are the Earth,
Womb filled by Father Sun.

Your thighs are the Devil's breath
Burning and tapping
Sin on my shoulder
With a slender finger.

¿Me das un trozo de tu alma?
One scrap would tell me of god
Living in the meadows of your loins
Kissing lovedust on my belly.

You sit and read your books about Revolution.
I sit across from you and think how wonderous your
                vision.

Much like Cesar de Leon’s book, you’re going to need some luck finding this one. I honestly didn’t even know it existed until this year. I’ve known René Saldaña, Jr. for ages now – back when he was my creative writing professor in twenty-fifteen! (I spelled it out for dramatic intent!) I happened upon it accidentally when browsing the books we have in our LRGV collection and this grossly yellow* chapbook just plucks out and lands right in my hands. I must be mistaken, I think. René only wrote fiction, no? Did he ever mention that he had a book of sonnets somewhere out there in the world? I don’t think so! But I found it, René! Oh did I find it. (Obviously, I’m kidding in teasing here. It takes a lot of skill to write sonnets. I don’t even know if these are in sonnet form because I NEVER really learned how to write them.)

I do highly recommend checking out his books of fiction:

• The Jumping Tree
• Finding Our Way (my personal favorite)
• The Whole Sky Full of Stars

*I hate the color yellow, so don’t take this as actual criticism of the color choice.