This selection, chosen by guest curator Heather Leigh, is from mud bloomsby Ruth Dickey, released by Harbor Mountain Press in 2019.
Mercado, San Cristobal de las Casas: Three Sonnets
you come with huge, upturned eyes
Cómprame rings in my ears like a bell
my friend buys tiny chicles in pastel colors
I say no, over and over again
one day, in the market
my purchases weigh like hot stones
I relent and we walk to the pastry stand
you select the moment’s desire
the vendor smiles
Torta de piña
I could purchase her whole stand
with sugar and flour
it would never be enough
I buy placemats, napkins, haggling over pesos
selling chicle, plumas, pulceras, shoe shines
calling me to a table where you are not invited
the thought of chewing makes me dizzy
like a prayer
you appear
burn my hands as you ask
Cómprame uno. Regálame un peso.
and four more children appear, grinning
telling me the smallest one’s favorite
many people must do this
coating the city
like an unexpected snowstorm
the bell still rings
my stomach fills with ash and stones
Ruth Dickey’s first book, Mud Blooms, was selected for the MURA Award from Harbor Mountain Press and awarded a 2019 Silver Nautilus. The recipient of a Mayor’s Arts Award from Washington DC, and a grant from the DC Commission and Arts and Humanities, Ruth is an ardent fan of dogs and coffee, and is in the midst of moving from Seattle to Brooklyn. Her poems and essays have recently appeared or are forthcoming in Kestrel, Ocean StateReview, Painted Bride Quarterly, Rhino, SWIMM, Vice Versa, andZocalo Public Square.
Heather Leigh is a queer, disabled writer and editor who has been working within Chicago’s publishing world for more than twenty years, editing poetry for the likes of Curbside Splendor and reading prose and poetry for Uncanny Magazine. She has recently began to focus on her own publication goals between semesters teaching English, writing, reading, and journalism at various midwestern community colleges. She is a three-time SAFTA fellowship recipient, a multiple resident of Firefly Farms, and most recently had a speculative horror story published in Bloodlet, an anthology by CultureCult Press. She lives in Chicago with a retired cage-fighting poet, two rescue cats names after Buffy watchers, enjoying life with the family that caught her by surprise.
