El Duende Unveiled
To be lost in menacing gloom
to be shrouded in smoke from faraway fires
to be stunned by the snarl of a crimson sun
by the howl of a bloodshot moon
is to find yourself in the grip
of El Duende
Can’t find your purse
Can’t find your teacher
that bad-ass old Gypsy who took you deep
into poetry’s woods who roused you to sing
your dead and their sorrows
from the soles of your feet to the crown of your head
Is this a dream or a haunting?
Maybe it’s a good thing to lose your purse
to lose your way to lose your teacher
to let your third eye lead you
as you wait for the kettle to whistle
for your tea to steep
as you watch five egrets meditate
in a tree at the edge
of the Giacomini Wetlands
where people restored a cattle ranch
returned the earth to her ancient nature
O rare rebirth in our time of betrayal
Multitudes lost multitudes seeking asylum
afraid of El Duende afraid that the earth
is a giant tiger ready to claw us off
her back
Is this a nightmare or a prophesy?
How do you bless
your beautiful grandchildren
as they take off into
the broken burning world
the screams of the Gypsy give voice
to scorched redwoods to thirsty
gophers and snakes to the children
of Yemaya who demand
you know your own darkness
Know yourself as bull-headed minotaur
devouring the young the beautiful
Know yourself crazed by guilt by sorrow
afraid to unveil your own Duende
Is this the wrath of a god or the rebirth
of mystery?
To be pregnant
with whom or with what
has not been revealed
to breathe into what
the earth dreams
to labor for what
only stars can imagine
is to give birth
to the world to come
after you’re gone
will you find yourself
wandering wetlands
just you
and your Duende?
Naomi Ruth Lowinsky’s poems have been widely published, most recently in Compass Rose, Magnolia Review, Reed Magazine and others. Her poem “Madelyn Dunham, Passing On” won first prize in the Obama Millennium Contest. She has also won the Blue Light Poetry Chapbook Contest. Lowinsky’s fifth poetry collection is Death and His Lorca.