Erik Manuel Soto - Séance Under a Lunar Eclipse

Witness how endings give way to change through the serpentine form of Erik Manuel Soto’s “Séance Under a Lunar Eclipse”. In surrealist Aztec imagery, this poem is a conversation with Tezcatlipoca, a major creator god in Aztec cosmology, brother and eternal foe of Quetzalcoatl, the Feathered Serpent. Hearkening to death, sacrifice, and night, “Séance Under a Lunar Eclipse” also transforms mercurial into a work asking for change, growth, an unburdening, and renewal. Erik has given as the perfect literary conduit from the winter dark to blossoming spring.

Séance Under a Lunar Eclipse

Oh Tezcatlipoca, I offer you my silent clavicle
———–and the rib where the blind iguana
———————-bites for not dreaming.
———————-Escape the depths your summit,
———–whether it be the volcano
layered with flattened obsidian
———–that deceives the dark ceilings of caverns
———————-with a starry night’s glisten,
———————-or the green feathered
———–imprisonment of heaven,
where alms are no longer human organs,
———–only votives opaque with old
———————-mourning at your mercy.
Oh nahual of a jaguar, I admit,
———–there was no catholic god
———————-when the kernel of red maize
———————-sprouted plagued molars,
———–and the marble sculpted christ,
that appeared, stared while husk became
———–lips pining over a broken heart.
Oh Tezcatlipoca, I offer you my quiet collarbone
———–for a death by serpent venom
———————-in the field where bees relieve
———————-lilies from the weight of their nectar.

Erik Manuel Soto

Erik Manuel Soto is a Mexican-American writer from California. His poems have appeared in Volt, the Nelligan, River and South Review, Huizache and Sonora Review. Winner of the inaugural Gronk Nicandro first book prize for poetry, Erik debuts his full length poetry collection, Inside the Umber Iris. He is currently bouncing around the West Coast.