"Cage" by Rigoberto González

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend Support Poem-a-Day October 30, 2019   Cage   Rigoberto González

In a world of loss      gratitude is what            I demand for keeping       precious catch within my reach.      No one despises            the shepherd for      collecting his flock.  No one accuses       the watchman of            making a captive       of his charge. I'm like a holster,       or sheath, all function            and no fury. Don't       you worry as I  swallow you whole. Those       ulcers in my gut            are only windows,      the stoma punched  in my throat is just       a keyhole. Don't be shy.           Hand me the rattle       of your aching heart  and I'll cradle you,       bird with broken wing.            Let me love you. I      will hold your brittle  bones together. I'll       unclasp your beak          so you can sing.      It's a world of always  leaving but here      you can always stay.            Copyright © 2019 by Rigoberto González. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on October 30, 2019, by the Academy of American Poets. About this Poem   "This is the closest I could get to the stark reality of children separated from their families and kept in cages. I tried other ways into the subject, but it always rang false, especially the versions I tried writing in the point of view of a child. I realized that these children have their own voices. But we are not listening. So I wrote a persona poem in which the villain tries to obscure the travesty of incarceration of minors with seductive, gas-lighting language." —Rigoberto González   Rigoberto González is the author of five books of poetry, most recently The Book of Ruin (Four Way Books, 2019). He is Professor of English and Director of the MFA Program at Rutgers-Newark, the State University of New Jersey. He lives in New York City. Poetry by González   The Book of Ruin (Four Way Books, 2019) "Let Me Try Again" by Javier Zamora from "I.C.E. AGE" by David Buuck "Divergence" by Diana Khoi Nguyen October Guest Editor: Oliver de la Paz   Thanks to Oliver de la Paz, author of five collections of poetry, including The Boy in the Labyrinth (University of Akron Press, 2019), who curated Poem-a-Day for this month's weekdays. Read a Q&A with Paz about his curatorial approach this month and find out more about our guest editors for the year. A culture break, a source of daily renewal...   If reading Poem-a-Day has become a meaningful part of your day, please consider supporting this free series with a donation. Your gift makes publishing Poem-a-Day possible. Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit poets.org   Unsubscribe here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038

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