Ariel Francisco
Mano de Oro/ Mano de Dios

Antigua, Guatemala

 

 

I. Mano de Oro

 

Hand of gold

erupting

from the mountainside

like solid sunlight

palm up offering

a seat, some warmth.

 

How could I say no?

 

 

II. Mano de Dios

 

Hand of God

clawing

from the mountainside

rotting wood

swaying in the wind

calling my name.

 

I didn’t dare.

 

 
Found In Volume 55, No. 02
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Ariel Francisco
About the Author

 

Ariel Francisco is the author of four poetry collections, most recently All the Places We Love Have Been Left in Ruins (Burrow Press, 2024), and the translator of various poetry collections from Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, and Haiti. Born in the Bronx to Dominican and Guatemalan parents and raised in Miami, his work has been published in The New Yorker, Academy of American Poets, POETRY, and elsewhere. He is Assistant Professor of Poetry and Hispanic Studies at Louisiana State University.