by Rosie Angelica Alonso 

How to Invoke La Llorona

 

Sleepwalk along the sewers

between Figueroa and First Street

 

Where she was last heard,

A coyote’s howl coiled in moonlight

Light three velas beside the concrete

Reza to las tres Santitas del Barrio:

 

                               La Santa Matilda

patron saint of bruises and hickies, Come Forth

 

                               La Santa Cabrona,

patron  saint of moshpits and broken noses, Come Forth

 

                               La Santa Malvada,

patron saint of tattoos and skateboard wrecks, Come Forth

 

                                In the name of the Mothers

                                and of the Daughters

                                And of the Holy Me

                                I call upon, you, Llorona

                                luz obscura, luna llena

                                La más chingona de las chingonas

                                Come Forth

 

Smudge manzanilla oil around your eyes,

Pinch a blue spider bite above the lashes

If that doesn’t work

ride your skateboard

to the corner liquor off Simmons Avenue

 

Set offerings on an altar:

  • five hand-rolled cigars
  • a bag of Hot Cheetos
  • one cup of split ends of hair
  • a dozen claveles morados
  • y una onza de la mala vida

 

Follow her steps through the Sixth Street Bridge

Drown your old clothes

 

Apply violet lipstick,

a spiked denim vest

                Hail Llorona, la homegirl más firme,

               Who walks amongst these callejones

                Searching for sus hijas,

                Las hijas de la chingada

                como yo

Swallow her reflection rising in gas puddles

Hail Llorona, full of rebeldía

                Deliver me into temptation

                And keep me there

 

See a shadow bent above the city,

a halo of smoke

Rosie Angelica Alonso(She/Her) was born in East Los Angeles. Her poetry recounts stories of the working class people, the myths of La Virgen Roachalupe, and the overlooked Chicano punk culture in East LA. Her poetry collection, The Cockroach Manifesto, is forthcoming in 2020. Her hobbies include bike riding, cooking tofu tacos, and sneaking her cat into Walmart because, you know, sticking it to the man.

Rosie Angelica Alonso(She/Her) was born in East Los Angeles. Her poetry recounts stories of the working class people, the myths of La Virgen Roachalupe, and the overlooked Chicano punk culture in East LA. Her poetry collection, The Cockroach Manifesto, is forthcoming in 2020. Her hobbies include bike riding, cooking tofu tacos, and sneaking her cat into Walmart because, you know, sticking it to the man.