We will smudge
our shoulder blades with wings of ash.
We will sow
your remaining ash in an untilled field.
We’ll toss
red carnations, red dahlias, red hibiscus.
We’ll release
white doves and flutter white handkerchiefs.
We’ll return
to the field to watch brave bulls roam.
We will wait
for the grass to catch fire.
From The Small Claim of Bones (Bilingual Press/Editorial Bilingüe, 2014). Copyright © 2014 by Cindy Williams Gutiérrez. Used with the permission of Bilingual Press/Editorial Bilingüe.