Alberto Ríos

Alberto Ríos (1952- ) has won acclaim as a writer who uses language in lyrical and unexpected ways in both his poems and short stories, which reflect his Chicano heritage and contain elements of magical realism. He earned a BA and an MFA from the University of Arizona. His many poetry collections include Not Go Away is My Name (2020), The Dangerous Shirt (2009), The Theater of Night (2006), Five Indiscretions (1985), and Whispering to Fool the Wind (1982), which was selected by Donald Justice for the 1981 Walt Whitman Award.

A Quiet Evening in August

It is dusk. Earth eats the dragon.

The singed edges of sky orange,

Fire in red smoke plumes everywhere,

Lavender, finally, lavender and gray

The great bruise of the moment in the sky.

Weak yellow smudges framing the end.

The day has finished but has not gone easily—

if color were noise

We would have thought it our end as well.

Instead, we sit to dinner inside the house,

And take no notice, darkness becoming so simply

Our personal and the world’s dessert.

— Alberto Ríos