"The Grass Widow of the North" by Margarita Vallazza; [email protected]

'The Grass Widow of the North' is a title that is analogous to a hunting and gathering culture where the men of a tribe or village go hunting and their wives/women stay in a temporary communal hut...married women but without their men. Such women were known as "grass widows." When the hunters triumphantly return with their "trophies" of flesh, there is a huge celebration and all the people celebrate with a huge feast that culminates in the burning of hut. In this poem, this woman is apart from her husband because he's gone to look for work in the North. The words are also sound effects and, if you listen carefully, you can hear "La Llorona" in the wind and a reference to the children's rhyme, "Que llueva, que llueva, la Virgen en la cueva" I sang with my playmates when it rained. 'Tempus Fugit' Stopped in Its Tracks is an oxymoronic reference to time flying but going nowhere because it is stopped. The poem also refers to a popular 1930s song generally played on an accordian. The poem also refers to the Quetzalquatl legend and Malinche. 'Mexico' touches on the oil boom and resultant financial depression of the 1980s. Margarita Vallazza's book is out of print but she has a few copies available, contact her directly at: [email protected]