Lotería

Esteban Rodriguez is the author of five poetry collections, most recently The Valley (Sundress Publications 2021), and the essay collection Before the Earth Devours Us (Split/Lip Press 2021). He is the Interviews Editor for the EcoTheo Review, Senior Book Reviews Editor for Tupelo Quarterly, and Associate Poetry Editor for AGNI. He currently lives in central Texas.

• 2 El diablito 1 21 La mano 2 9 El barril 3 40 El alacrÁn 4 34 El soldado 5 42 La calavera 6 6 La sirena 7 12 El valiente 8 20 El pÁjaro 9 43 La campana 10 54 La rana 11 39 El nopal 12 45 El venado 13 52 La maceta 14 4 El cartrÍn 15 23 La luna 16 46 El Sol 17 27 El corazÓn 18 1 El gallo 23 22 La bota 24 36 El cazo 25 14 La muerte 26 32 El mÚsico 27 25 El borracho 28 33 La araÑa 29 38 El Apache 30 30 El camarÓn 31 28 La sandÍa 32 31 Las jaras 33 24 El cotorro 34 18 El violoncello 35 7 La escalera 36 11 El melÓn 37 15 La pera 38 8 La botella 39 13 El gorrito 40 10 El Árbol 45 53 El arpa 46 17 El bandolÓn 47 44 El cantarito 48 41 La rosa 49 26 El negrito 50 51 La palma 51 49 El pino 52 47 La corona 53 37 El mundo 54 29 El tambor 55 19 La garza 56 50 El pescado 57 5 El paraguas 58 16 La bandera 59 35 La estrella 60 3 La dama 61 48 La chalupa 62 Acknowledgments 65About the Author 67

In LoterÍa—which draws its form from the Mexican game of chance yet manages to convey a sense of inevitability with every line—Esteban RodrÍguez presents intimate and compassionate portraits of family members. Among the most vivid are those of his father, whose crossing of the desert is imagined in kaleidoscopic, multivalent sequences both harrowing and hallucinatory, and his mother, whose high spirits and physical sufferings are vividly reconstructed and turned for moving insights. Deeply companionable, offered in a voice that is simultaneously energetic and guided by confident restraint, these poems are full of love and clarity, an uncommon and welcome combination." - John Hennessy, author of Coney Island Pilgrims"Esteban RodrÍguez’s LoterÍa is the story of the crossing. The hunger, violence, struggle, and death experienced by those who take on this dangerous venture is itself one kind of lottery, some make it and some don’t. There is fortune and luck being sought and some is imposed, but either way, these poems show us the vulnerability and humility of a family who has crossed the board in search of the loterÍa, not the game, but the promise." - Richard Boada, author of We Find Each Other in the Darkness