re·cep·tion

  

 

re·cep·tion  (ri-ˈsep-shən)  n.  [ME. reception; OFr.; L. receptio  <  pp. of receptere; see RECEIVE],  1.  a receiving or being received.  2.  the manner of this: as, a very hearty reception  3.  a social function, often formal, for the receiving of guests.  4.  the act of mentally accepting or approving.  5.  in radio & television, the manner of receiving, with reference to the relative quality of reproduction: as, the storm caused poor reception.

Our second poet for na·po·mo is Christina Vega-Westhoff. Enjoy her poem below.

 

 

AFTER DIRECTION

 

For we are questioning how they breathe life

into the fragrant cities.

Did dust cover your nose and blind you?

Did the patterned walls beseech you?

How education advanced, or was said

to. Take care that what is painted on your

inside is not five. You came too soon to asking.

 

But what is given to be received.

We of the screaming action clan. Act even still.

To subvert delay reception. The moon began to speak

now silently. The boat if you stepped into it did

not sink. Was said to resemble oat.

 

In this painting it is the handing back of fate.

Once the gods discovered the vow broken

all sides lay still waiting. Those that didn’t

still found themselves in question.

 

The little young woman—how desiring she is to

take. To say the gift is precious—not to

be thought of, glossy. Too used then

to taking another and then this too.

 

If the police could have been an elsehood.

Stealing for selfhood.

The spider in the mouth of your swallowing.

So many times as though erased.

Calm now.

 

Claro, who would have been received as

departing. Led back into the cell. Before

exported/exiled/deported.

Held heavy then passive.

What was the mouth spoken of.

The daughter’s friend humping the carpet in

the basement. Truth or dare the dream

died. Across of this take flight.

How if it became too much for any one person,

having given, disappointed, and betrayed. Crossing

the country to find oneself forgotten.

 

 

 

Christina Vega-Westhoff is a poet, translator, and aerialist living in Tucson. Her poetry appears or will appear in Fieralingue, Spiral Orb, The Lumberyard Magazine, 1913: A Journal of Forms, and Witness: A JLP Anthology.  Translations of Melanie Taylor Herrera’s work appear or are forthcoming in Ezra, Metamorphoses, and PRISM International.