UNDERGROUND VOICES MAGAZINE/RUTH E. DOMINGUEZ


	UNDERGROUND VOICES: POETRY

RUTH E. DOMINGUEZ

Saving Grace

It’s Monday.
Let the game begin,
the defined struggle
of buzz and schedules
and heart-wrench.
If we are lucky,
we will reach highbrow;
if not,
we may be
talking half-ludicrous
in the streets,
as others keep time
with the careful pace
of their walk
seeking destinations
assuredly.
I want only to break the rules,
to make an accomplice
of you
against the interminable shuffle.
If we are lucky,
we will profess lofty ideas;
if not,
we will be mute to millions,
our lives
but a drizzle in the ocean--
no sea gulls flying
but impending storm
of lucid precipitation
rocking the barges
intending travel:
our only
saving grace.

What You Ask

You would say
Accept with
bitter patience
what I give you,
hot lusty pursuits
of drudgery and infinite sand,
Accept
that I will
turn your voice
into echo and
song
that I make
your existence
heavier,
muddier than chocolate
that your
shadow is worthy
in my view only
when solitary
that I divide your
soul as I would
split a banana
or firewood,
Your endings are
my beginnings
and in this world
which is mine
there is nothing circular.

Ruth E. Dominguez is a published author of non-fiction, short fiction, and poetry. She has worked and traveled in numerous cities in South America, North America, and Europe. She holds a B.A. in Latin American Studies and Performance and a M.A. in Sociocultural Anthropology. Language teaching has given her a love for words; and her many wonderful students have given credence to her will to write.