WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.100 align:middle line:90%


00:00:08.100 --> 00:00:12.160 align:middle line:84%
So my second collection or
my third collection A Crown

00:00:12.160 --> 00:00:15.330 align:middle line:84%
For Gumecindo is a
heroic crown of sonnets

00:00:15.330 --> 00:00:17.700 align:middle line:84%
that I wrote after my
grandfather passed--

00:00:17.700 --> 00:00:20.560 align:middle line:84%
now I grew up with him, we
lived on the same property,

00:00:20.560 --> 00:00:24.660 align:middle line:84%
he passed in 2013, and I
spent the next year and a half

00:00:24.660 --> 00:00:27.180 align:middle line:84%
working on this heroic
crown of sonnets for him.

00:00:27.180 --> 00:00:31.560 align:middle line:84%
And for those who don't
know, heroic crown of sonnets

00:00:31.560 --> 00:00:33.120 align:middle line:90%
is a series of 15 sonnets.

00:00:33.120 --> 00:00:38.340 align:middle line:84%
And there's lots of rules,
but, you know, screw the rules.

00:00:38.340 --> 00:00:41.040 align:middle line:84%
But ideally for me
anyway, the last line

00:00:41.040 --> 00:00:43.890 align:middle line:84%
of the first sonnet starts
the second the last line

00:00:43.890 --> 00:00:46.440 align:middle line:84%
of the second starts the
third, and so on right

00:00:46.440 --> 00:00:48.220 align:middle line:90%
until it forms--

00:00:48.220 --> 00:00:51.060 align:middle line:84%
the 15th sonnet is
comprised of the first line

00:00:51.060 --> 00:00:52.250 align:middle line:90%
of the previous 14.

00:00:52.250 --> 00:00:54.000 align:middle line:84%
I'm only going to read
a couple from here,

00:00:54.000 --> 00:00:58.200 align:middle line:84%
but this one is called
Newborns, and this like I said,

00:00:58.200 --> 00:01:00.510 align:middle line:84%
this was after my
grandfather's passing.

00:01:00.510 --> 00:01:03.030 align:middle line:90%
Newborns.

00:01:03.030 --> 00:01:07.950 align:middle line:84%
Let's look at our reflections in
the mud, see how in four months

00:01:07.950 --> 00:01:10.440 align:middle line:90%
each of us has changed.

00:01:10.440 --> 00:01:13.410 align:middle line:84%
What is your name
without a body?

00:01:13.410 --> 00:01:16.680 align:middle line:90%
My name without you here?

00:01:16.680 --> 00:01:18.550 align:middle line:90%
I am new.

00:01:18.550 --> 00:01:20.530 align:middle line:90%
What I never was.

00:01:20.530 --> 00:01:24.010 align:middle line:84%
Suddenly I carry my newborn
grief like a new mother,

00:01:24.010 --> 00:01:28.900 align:middle line:84%
I nurse and swaddle my most
fragile, my newest, my sweet.

00:01:28.900 --> 00:01:32.290 align:middle line:84%
What festers in the bellies of
strangers does not concern me.

00:01:32.290 --> 00:01:37.600 align:middle line:84%
There is only this, I am a only
mother, mine is the only child.

00:01:37.600 --> 00:01:41.890 align:middle line:84%
I decompose alongside
you, wanting and not

00:01:41.890 --> 00:01:45.400 align:middle line:84%
wanting everyone to
see me off balanced

00:01:45.400 --> 00:01:50.290 align:middle line:84%
and leaking my skin in
strands the oddity that

00:01:50.290 --> 00:01:51.610 align:middle line:90%
was put in my hands.

00:01:51.610 --> 00:01:54.780 align:middle line:90%


00:01:54.780 --> 00:02:02.240 align:middle line:84%
Día de los Muertos, the oddity
that was put in my hands,

00:02:02.240 --> 00:02:06.350 align:middle line:84%
your truck, it used to be,
I drove this road each week

00:02:06.350 --> 00:02:09.949 align:middle line:84%
to pick you up now I drive this
road each week to lay you down

00:02:09.949 --> 00:02:10.940 align:middle line:90%
again.

00:02:10.940 --> 00:02:14.190 align:middle line:90%
Today is the Day of the Dead.

00:02:14.190 --> 00:02:16.350 align:middle line:90%
When did you die?

00:02:16.350 --> 00:02:19.440 align:middle line:84%
Today I bring you
chicharrón con huevo, chile,

00:02:19.440 --> 00:02:23.590 align:middle line:84%
which is to say I brought
breakfast to the goats.

00:02:23.590 --> 00:02:26.970 align:middle line:84%
I want to slip my hand
into the photo of you,

00:02:26.970 --> 00:02:31.110 align:middle line:84%
fix your hair as I did,
help you with your sweater,

00:02:31.110 --> 00:02:34.630 align:middle line:90%
guide heavy salt to your plate.

00:02:34.630 --> 00:02:38.950 align:middle line:84%
Grass is starting to grow
over you, shards of rock

00:02:38.950 --> 00:02:43.090 align:middle line:90%
gone smooth, I sing to bees.

00:02:43.090 --> 00:02:47.140 align:middle line:84%
I lay my ear to stone,
it doesn't hurt.

00:02:47.140 --> 00:02:52.230 align:middle line:84%
I hear your song,
water rising from dirt.

00:02:52.230 --> 00:02:55.000 align:middle line:90%