Rose Hunter, “The Statues of Illustrious Men”

These three
face the cathedral
and are the ones I can see from
where I’m sitting:
Marcelino García Barragán
(militar y gobernante),
a leg, a bite of torso,
a dangling arm;
Dr. Leonardo Oliva
(dr cientifico), bisected; and
Manuel M. Diéguez (general,
precursor, revolucionario);
sword obscured by the shrubs

beyond the fence and the inclining
lawn; leaves and red flowers
over his chest: an abandoned
pompom.

(—at the Rotonda de los Hombres Ilustres, Guadalajara)

To the River is a collection of poems from Rose Hunter. It also includes “Out of Detroit on the Greyhound” (originally published in Quay), “Walking into the Wynn, Las Vegas, and You Are Stitched Into” (Referential), “He Is No Pinkerton” (Juked), and “Even” (Leaf Press).

Hunter is also the founder of YB Poetry, an online journal that will be publishing its fourth issue this summer.

13 April 2011 | poetry |