two poems
by Mykki Rios
FROM THE THROAT OF LA LLORONA
I.
the girl on tv finishes singing
the song of la llorona
every notes aches and frays
sliding along the soft knife
protruding
from her vocal chords
she is too young
to have buried a child
but babies have babies
then lose each other
all the time
rosy blush of innocence
illusory and draining
from youth’s plump cheek
maybe it is a trick of the clock
or the light
all the ways we have measured
life
II.
I cannot have children
not as in
I am physically incapable
as in I know myself
what I don't know
is what I would do
keeping myself alive
challenges me enough
I wonder does that count
as crying over children
I have lost
when they are shimmering
spectral possibilities
in the shifting shade
time’s murky river sand passing
through endless grasping hands
III.
the room is both warm and cool / you are making me a grilled cheese / with your shirt off / the window open / our dog napping / I don’t want to / I still think / one day I will weep / over most / if not all of you / otherwise / if things reverse / wail for me / the way a guitar can
THE LADY REST
(inspired by the painting of the same name by Theodore Czebotar)
An angel falls from somewhere / and the astronomer / calls it a meteorite / and the birdwatcher / calls it a meadowlark / and isn’t it interesting / that we all see something / different / but we do see all see / something / even those / with our eyes / closed to the experience
The bones of the angel / rest on the beach / and children are unafraid / to play on them / pile of petrified birch / with wings drooping into willow boughs / and no one / autopsies the remains / but instead accepts it as sculpture / for even when we fall / there is intention in how
Which is why the angel rests / on the shore / eroded and altered / by the slate waves / which will caress it / into as vulnerable a shape / as it allows / to demonstrate we all match / when we sleep
The angels / the trees / the lakes / the children / and the witnesses
Photo of Mykki Rios
BIO: Mykki Rios is a queer genderfluid Mexican-American writer, performer and multimedia artist. Raised in Chicago, and having lived many places across the globe, they recently returned home to the Windy City. Mykki has had works featured in issues of HAD, londemere lit, BRAWL Lit, Synkroniciti Magazine, and more. They were a finalist in Lupercalia Press' 2022 Chapbook Series Contest. Their poem 'LAKESHORE DRIVE POEM' is a Monarch Queer Literary Award 2025 nominee and their poem 'I dream of trying on wedding dresses' is a Pushcart Prize 2025 nominee.