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Mapping the Migrant’s Shrine |
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Jeffrey Alfier
for Sonia Alvarado Soriano (1982-2007)
We swear they stand no chance facing this wind.
Who prospers here when heat conspires with stone
to gall votive candles down to slivers?
If Santa Barbara’s a saint defrocked
there’s patrons enough for any lost cause–– maybe St. Jude will untangle roads north.
A new saint’s image, pinned to granite, flies
above a young girl’s photo. Loosed by wind,
she loats in the rain, the prowling future.
Arivaca, Arizona
Jeffrey Alfier received honorable mention for the Rachel Sherwood Poetry Prize. His publication credits include Crab Orchard Review, Georgetown Review, Santa Clara Review, and Xavier Review. He is author of a chapbook of poems, Strangers Within the Gate (The Moon Publishing & Printing, 2005).
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