Copyright © 1997 by the Estate of Ricardo Sánchez. All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America.

ISBN 1-882688-14-7

Library of Congress Number: 96-62082

Book design:  Jane Brunette

Cover concept, cover 
painting, and title 
page illustration:  Chista Cantú

Back cover photo:  Rikárd-Sergei Sánchez

Editorial assistance:  Mary Hawley, Mark Ingebretsen

PUBLISHED BY:   
Tia Chucha Press         
A Project of the Guild Complex 
P.O. Box 476969  
Chicago, IL 60647        

DISTRIBUTED BY:
Northwestern University Press
Chicago Distribution Center
11030 S. Langley
Chicago, IL 60628

Tel.    1-800-621-2736 or (773) 568-1550
Fax     1-800-621-8476 or (773) 660-2235                                    

email   guild@charlie.cns.iit.edu

website  www.iit.edu/~guild

How to order the new book


Thanks to M.S. Hetherington for her vision and hard work, and to Sandra Cisneros and Luis Rodriguez for their generous support.

This project is partially funded by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Illinois Arts Council, and the Eric Mathieu King Fund of the Academy of American Poets.

        Contents

Introduction.................................5
Tap, Tap, Tap...............................11
Evening in Prison: Theme & Variated 
VibrationsBeethoven's Quartet in C
Sharp Minor/Strings.........................13
Rik-Ser: my progeny.........................15 
-hijo-......................................17
Teresa......................................19
Son: my love destroys you slowly............21 
Libertad was born in Primavera..............23 
"pack each soul...".........................28 
Homing......................................30
-virile-....................................36
-vision-....................................38
we live.....................................40
-medium point-..............................42
"vi la lluvia anoche, amor mio..."..........44 
-Tamborazos y Gritos: Self Awareness-.......46 
-fui, soy, seré-............................53
More than...................................57
Siendo/being................................59
En lo frágil................................60
Teresa, last night..........................61
Mi'ja.......................................63
"Liberation begins..."......................64
To/for Hallack McCord, Denver 
friend, Death, be not soft..................65
Smile floating..............................70
3rd world umbrage...........................71
En la sangre................................74
Fridays belong to friends, sometimes........76
-Ack-.......................................81
-Sonriente Duelo-...........................83
"should i look for you..."..................85
-se dejarán-................................86
"raza mindsouls...".........................91
-POEM:  love sensation-.....................92 
-in soup of timespace: sorts-...............94 
-y después de-..............................97 
we are a people quite integral..............99 
flow on, palabras..........................100
"so we must love...".......................101
-quiero a la poesia-.......................103
-y from here, where?-......................105
Un PIENSASENTIMIENTO PARA 
María Teresa Silva Sánchez.................109                        
-solo & with remembrances-.................111
"fragrance petals its presence...".........114
"let us not pretend..."....................116
-to a much older poet from Sweden-.........119
"and in the desert...".....................120
"and it is joyful..."......................122
-REGRESO-..................................123
"death of the body shall come..."..........125
"convicts, inmates, & felons too...".......126
"sensuous, tortuously vibrant..."..........128
14 de febrero de 1980......................132
Festival of Children ......................133
        "Manolo, carnal..."................136
"con amor y cariño...".....................139
"as we walk... "...........................140
"the door is open..."......................143
I Know You by Your
Smile-filled Songs, Chinto.................144 
jefita.....................................147 
"...there is only one race...".............150 
-words-....................................151
"...there is only the open door..."........153 
"Female form...."..........................155 
-poema a Rie ét Rik y luv-.................157 
About the author...........................160