Monique Sanchez is from Española, New Mexico. She is a candidate for an MFA in Creative Writing from the Institute of American Indian Arts. Monique received her BS in Conservation Science from the College of Santa Fe and an MS in Crisis and Emergency Management from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Her writing has appeared in Trickster, published by Northern New Mexico College, and in The Santa Fe Literary Review. Monique is Cherokee and Isleta.
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Salton Sea Primer
a mother and
her son stand
on the shore
fish farms ocean salt flow
from her mouth into
heat so vibrant
it seams lashes to lids
in Calexico
a mother
shields her son from playa
poison breath scar
his cough buckles
his throat
awakens fault lines
Tethered
The pyramid descends with such lightness
like a cloud eclipsing into pitch. It leaves me
pleading for restraint.
I’m intangible I’m shadow
The sea’s motion bleeds
into my dream and holds
there. Its blue filters
cell, saturates memory.