Libros de Arena

So I open a book

A row of camels marches out,

The Sahara such infinite sand

Like the sky on land,

Where waves of dunes design motion,

Camel wants me jump upon its back,

Go riding gallop the letters of its words,

Who together compose music

Based upon an air that frames arithmetic,

Images from where they were

Prior to focus, just move through special

Terrain of pebbles in perpetuity, a date palm

Leans in the nowhere path of a lizard

Snake skin sunshine, eats a scorpion, 

Of everyday fathom air

Endure light pierce,

What dance of golden sand breasts, nothing

Seeing such oblivion, elapsed glances

Invisible book appears,

Which never occurs in a trillion years?

When a moment surprises itself and

Becomes the view light unaware,

Nothing forecast,

To close the book

Return to the silence

Of the sand heaven

Which rains from my fingers?

In the dry of motion. Sound.

So much space, 

Where is she,

Where

When? 

From Guayacán (Ishmael Reed Publishing Company, 2023) by Victor Hernández Cruz. Copyright © 2023 by Victor Hernández Cruz. Used with the permission of the author.