Diaspora Sonnet 31

Green and green in flooded terraces. Rows

mirrored in the flooding irrigation—

 
the reflection, a kind of brimmed silence.

A potential. Across the swath of light,

 

the bright fields, in the wind, ribbon images.

The intimacy of a beloved kissed

 
into oblivion. The new lights rise

along the rows, tender in their tendrils

 

of warmth, extinct with potentials. Extinct

in the early shift of irrigation,

 

the sprinkler heads shush all intention.

While a single thought—to stand straight and see

 

the horizon beyond the razored green.

To see yourself in the mirroring streams.


Oliver de la Paz is the author and editor of seven books. His latest collection of poetry, The Diaspora Sonnets, will be published by Liveright Press (2023). He is a founding member of Kundiman, and he teaches at the College of the Holy Cross and in the Low-Residency MFA Program at Pacific Lutheran University.