Make Love to Me Like We’ve Never Known Violence
Like every leaving wasn’t a country
that seceded from your body
Like every lover wasn’t crossing
your wrists in trouble’s rolling light
Make love to me like your people were never
stolen, like your blood has never been a question
of belonging. And I will make
love to you like a river unbraiding
our countries, like the mind of the ocean
remembering your name.
Credit
Copyright © 2023 by Vanessa Angélica Villarreal. This poem originally appeared in The American Poetry Review, December 2022/January 2023. Used with the permission of the author.
Author
Vanessa Angélica Villarreal
Vanessa Angélica Villarreal was born in the Rio Grande Valley borderlands to formerly undocumented Mexican immigrants. She is the author of the poetry collection Beast Meridian (Noemi Press, 2017).
Date Published
01/01/2023