1991
Dream as Luz María Umpierre
Artefact: Profile of, and interview with, Luz María Umpierre, written by Elana M. Martínez in Christopher Street magazine, issue 163, published 14 October, 1991.
No long dream for Luzma
No time
She pissed
In battle
Hauling missiles off the garret
Stones
Statement to the press
Heavy pan of broth
Taking aim at the lumbering Rutgers men
And the second wave
The third
Blindly trampling the island
Eyes sealed up
Lids melted down
Clambering over rocks, moss, shells
Dragging in boats
Scraping the shore
Boots crashing through surf
Luz wants to be in another dream
Same island in another time
War over, never begun
Now a domain of kisses only
Encircled by sea
The sky heavy
Only women with short names appearing before her
Mirrors of desire
They’re singing
Luz, Luz
Luzmaaa!
Smiling the uncanny smiles of dream-people
In bathrobes
Silk
Lichen and barnacles
Just the light falling down over skin
Ana, Lia, Paz
Aya, Lee, Pam
Jan, Jo, Joy
Lou, Su, Sky
They’re lining up to kiss her on the clifftops
The queue trailing all the way around the coast
So it wraps itself up
Mouth to tail
Making a fortress
Aja caressing the fingers of
Bev holding the hand of
Cas whose shoulder is squeezed by
Dee who strokes the messy hair of
Ema
Fay
Gay
It goes on, like this
Without waking
Without end
No time
She pissed
In battle
Hauling missiles off the garret
Stones
Statement to the press
Heavy pan of broth
Taking aim at the lumbering Rutgers men
And the second wave
The third
Blindly trampling the island
Eyes sealed up
Lids melted down
Clambering over rocks, moss, shells
Dragging in boats
Scraping the shore
Boots crashing through surf
Luz wants to be in another dream
Same island in another time
War over, never begun
Now a domain of kisses only
Encircled by sea
The sky heavy
Only women with short names appearing before her
Mirrors of desire
They’re singing
Luz, Luz
Luzmaaa!
Smiling the uncanny smiles of dream-people
In bathrobes
Silk
Lichen and barnacles
Just the light falling down over skin
Ana, Lia, Paz
Aya, Lee, Pam
Jan, Jo, Joy
Lou, Su, Sky
They’re lining up to kiss her on the clifftops
The queue trailing all the way around the coast
So it wraps itself up
Mouth to tail
Making a fortress
Aja caressing the fingers of
Bev holding the hand of
Cas whose shoulder is squeezed by
Dee who strokes the messy hair of
Ema
Fay
Gay
It goes on, like this
Without waking
Without end