And finally, it is me only guessing at what secrets or hatreds they share. - Lorna Dee Cervantes

She would not be
silent and still.
She would live,
arrogantly,
having wrestled
her death
and won.

When I first went to Mexico in 1974 and was involved in Chicano teatro—Mexican American guerilla theater—I realized that my politics and my poetry could merge; suddenly it wasn’t just for me. Before then, I didn’t share this poetry; I kept it in notebooks…

I ran
flushed and shadowed by no one
alone I settled stiff in mouth
with the words women gave me.