The Border, a Poem by Alberto Rios

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The border is a line that birds cannot see.
The border is a beautiful piece of paper folded carelessly in half.
The border is where flint first met steel, starting a century of fires.
The border is a belt that is too tight, holding things up but making it hard to breathe.
The border is a rusted hinge that does not bend.
The border is the blood clot in the river’s vein.
The border says stop to the wind, but the wind speaks another language, and keeps going.
The border is a brand, the “Double-X” of barbed wire scarred into the skin of so many. . . .

The rest of this double sonnet can be found HERE.

Alberto Ríos

Born in 1952, Alberto Ríos is the inaugural state poet laureate of Arizona and the author of many poetry collections, including  A Small Story about the Sky (Copper Canyon Press, 2015). In 1981, he received the Walt Whitman Award for his collection Whispering to Fool the Wind (Sheep Meadow Press, 1982). He currently serves as a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.

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Published by Scott Abbott

I received my Ph.D. in German Literature from Princeton University in 1979. Then I taught at Vanderbilt University, BYU, and Utah Valley State College. At Utah Valley University, I directed the Program in Integrated Studies for its initial 13 years and was also Chair of the Department of Humanities and Philosophy for three years. My publications include a book on Freemasonry and the German Novel, three co-authored books with Zarko Radakovic (REPETITIONS and VAMPIRES & A REASONABLE DICTIONARY, WE: ON FRIENDSHIP, published in Serbo-Croatian in Belgrade and in English with Punctum Books and Elik Press), a book with Sam Rushforth (WILD RIDES AND WILDFLOWERS, Torrey House Press), a "fraternal meditation" called IMMORTAL FOR QUITE SOME TIME (University of Utah Press), a book of essays published while fighting for academic freedom at BYU: DWELLING IN THE PROMISED LAND AS A STRANGER, and translations of three books by Austrian author Peter Handke, of an exhibition catalogue called "The German Army and Genocide," and, with Dan Fairbanks, of Gregor Mendel's important paper on hybridity in peas. More importantly, my children are in the process of creating good lives for themselves. I share my life with UVU historian Lyn Bennett, with whom I have written a cultural history of barbed wire -- THE PERFECT FENCE (Texas A&M University Press). Some publications at http://works.bepress.com/scott_abbott/

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2 thoughts on “The Border, a Poem by Alberto Rios”

  1. This poem is beautiful. It connected with some very deep emotions I didn’t think I had in me. The beautiful thing about this is I connected with this poem/author on a personal, human level. I will continue to ponder this throughout this week.

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  2. I find poetry as a wonderful way to connect with topics that you may not be familiar with. I find that you are able to really feel the emotions this poem intends for you to feel and connect with it even when you aren’t directly face with the reality of it. Thank you for sharing this poem, it was quite moving.

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