Citizens of the Mausoleum by Rodney Gomez

This is a surreal little treasure! I absolutely love it! Gomez uses amazing imagery and surprising language to deal with emotion-laden events such as a mother’s death. The result transcends melodrama and cliche, and allows the loss to be expressed in a true, meaningful way. This is the best use of surrealism, to get to the real. Buy here.

From “Cigarette”

Now that she is gone / the confessional is glad // to release her rumor / back into the world.

From “We, Too, Are Asking Why”

We sold / the mechanical bed. // Traveling monks / gave us ten bucks // for the bibles // and the Virgin / of Guadalupe // postcards. // We dismantled you. // We sanitized / the room, // painted its walls / a shade / of green. // You are no longer / in the room. // You are the room / itself.

From “Door”

Now I carry a door frame / wherever I go. // . . . I hung it from clothesline / but the wood limped / in memory of necks. // I stood it in a graveyard / with the other doors, / but the dead misremembered / the door as arms and quickly fled. // Soon I discovered that a door frame / is useless without belief. // As crucifixions are.