5.2
(Initial Operations: Movement Inland)
Inland are cities of light
sprawling machines
that can traverse the past.
By means of light, one can
touch the beginning of
time itself: it is a column
of fire, impenetrable, bent
to the body like an opera
containing the sea,
the rolling sea minus
the gondolas. The engine
is made of singing.
6.7
(Infantry Patrols: Laying Ambushes)
A hush
falls across the trail
deep as a well—
the ladrones leave
no footprints; only
night. We remain
motionless, outlines
of light, faces wide open
as if to say serenade,
serenade—such falling
among friends—
Chris Santiago is the author of Tula, a finalist for the Minnesota Book Award, and Small Wars Manual, forthcoming from Milkweed Editions in April 2025. A Poetry Mentor at the Loft and Fellow of the McKnight Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, and Kundiman, he received his PhD from the USC Literature & Creative Writing Program and joined the Faculty of the CalArts Creative Writing Program in September 2023.
