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September 13, 2019
[from âReturn to Tetarobaâ](
[Steven Alvarez](
light that day | bright | & the air hot | & meeting bones
of those I would never know en the panteón
speaking Sinaloan Spanish | which has always
been the accent Iâve understood most
despite hearing it least in my life
sÃgueme he sd | follow me
we must walk | roads unpaved lined
with stones & dust | so much dust
| polvo | of airborne bones &
saguaro ancestors watching us
their shadows trailing us |
as sr Nalo led us past a dried
creek & just over a small hill
& there | a house with no doors
& there attached to this home
the walls of another | walls covered
in hot black plastic | secured with rope
there | the walls of Franciscoâs home
what was left of Franciscoâs home
now a storage space for another familyâs home
aquà el vivió | sr Nalo sd | he lived here |
Rosario after decades of waiting | left this home
& lived with her children | Franciscoâs children
from his first family | closer to the center
of el rancho Tetaroba | how los Alvarez
of Arizona dwindled to less people
over one hundred years &
how los Alvarez of Tetaroba
increased & lived in all parts of Mexico
touch these walls | de color colorado
they were the same yr grandfather felt
you feel the heat | they breathe hot
touch these walls | paredes en la frente y la mente
they were the same yr grandfather felt
you feel the heat | they breathe hot
I pocketed a piece of this wall
& later when drunk | way drunk after
getting to know mis primos better
over chelas | I stumbled into the hotel
hot tears in my eyes | dad I sd |
I kept this for you | for all of us
but always for you to keep him
& to remember | always remember
what he did |
| climbing down the drainage of red
rock | sweet minted plants |
Robert | my father | father of five
all born in Arizona | Robert
stops to catch his breath then rips
bamboo from root | clouded
red dust clumps dropping |
this is where he was born
& now we know why | now
we know why & now we can see why
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Copyright © 2019 Steven Alvarez. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on September 13, 2019, by the Academy of American Poets.
[Alvarez reads from "Return to Tetaroba."](
About This Poem
âMy paternal grandfather Francisco Alvarez migrated from Tetaroba, Sinaloa, Mexico to Bisbee, Arizona in 1917 during the Mexican Revolution. He migrated without his family, perhaps vowing to return, but he never did. My father Robert Alvarez and I have been searching to understand my grandfatherâs motives for decades, but in 2009 we realized the best way to learn was to travel to Tetaroba, know the place, and speak to the distant family there we had known only through correspondences. This portion of the longer poem recounts part of that journey, where we were guided to the original home of Francisco.â
âSteven Alvarez
[Steven Alvarez](
Steven Alvarez is the author of The Codex Mojaodicus (Fence Books, 2017), winner of the Fence Modern Poets Prize. He is Associate Professor of English at St. Johnâs University and lives in New York.
[The Codex Mojaodicus](
Poetry by Alvarez
[The Codex Mojaodicus](
(Fence Books, 2017)
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"Fatherâs Memory of a Mexican Mining Camp" by Cindy Williams Gutiérrez
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September Guest Editor: Eduardo C. Corral
Thanks to [Eduardo C. Corral](, author of Guillotine, forthcoming from Graywolf Press in 2020, who curated Poem-a-Day for this monthâs weekdays. Read a [Q&A with Corral]( about his curatorial approach this month and find out more about our [guest editors for the year.](
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