Ceremony
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Published:October 2024
The writing in this section has served as ceremony, ritual, prayer, lament, and invocation. “Shema” came out in a flood of words the day after 9/11. “Dark of the Year” was written in the aftermath of a terrible breakup that was impacted by the eruption of war. “Grave Song” was sparked by the deaths of three soldiers. “Silt of Each Other” speaks back to a moment of US imperialist pseudoscience and declares a different kind of manifest destiny. “Rain,” “Vena Cava,” and “Baño” follow threads of water and history. “Bees” is about solidarity across species and “Resurrection” draws strength from the strategies of a Louisiana fern. “Slichah for a Shmita Year” is a reworking of a communal Yom Kippur prayer of release and mending, “Braided Prayer” is about learning to listen to the world, and “Water Road” describes the author’s experience of being called home to Puerto Rico.
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