the louderARTS Project

R.A. Villanueva

R.A. Villanueva holds graduate and undergraduate degrees from Rutgers University and teaches British Literature and Creative Writing at a New Jersey high school. He has twice received a Geraldine R. Dodge scholarship to the Fine Arts Work Center and was awarded a place in Kundiman's inaugural Emerging Asian- American Poets' Retreat. His work appears in The Washington Square Review and Rattle as well as online at The White- Shoe Irregular. He lives in New York City.



Bones

soon now
soon now:

it seems
like the end is coming
tomorrow
and tomorrow
no one
will even know i was here

for all these tragedies
blissfully floated down river
my bones barely make a sound

imagine
imagine:

children
sifting through our sketchbooks
digging,
playful:
      maybe
      he once felt the same?

my kings lying in state
my gods, temples in ruin
you
won't even know my name

see the cat
see the cradle
plantains drying in the shade
and i bleach
to bone


Teacher's Prayer

Blesséd are you, maidens of the one hundred and eighty afternoons
You of the cough at the first inhale       You of the cut
school for the seashore
You of the burnished nails, the powdered
eyes, the breeze of lilac and lavender
You of the still- open door

Blesséd are you, child of the broken
heart, the half- healed ventricle
You, the chamber voice, the madrigal
lift, the harmony and hum      You of the pink
You of the dark black ink

You of the grandmother’s abattoir
hidden among the exits of the New Jersey Turnpike
You backstroking Ophelias and #2 pencils

You of the boardwalk tattoo, of the snapping latex, of the pierced
tragus, of the soft cartilage       You
of the essays in arabesques, the hearts above
the i’s, the diary left out on purpose, the origami messages,
the whispered consonants      Pray for us

You who roll
your eyes in their painted sockets who
affix his last name to yours on your notebooks
Pray for us

You who can still pick and choose      You
who manicure your faces full
of the spark and sweat of future days
Pray for us



© R.A. Villanueva



. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .