Alebrije poet Liliana Valenzuela has worked alongside me for three decades as amiga, translator, and Spanish teacher. Poetry is the most difficult genre to write, and the most difficult genre to translate. For wizardry and speed, I am always indebted to the marvelous Lili.

Dwellings as beautiful as their settings give me creative inspiration. I remember I wrote “Smith’s Supermarket…” during a Taos residency at the Mabel Dodge Luhan House in the autumn of 2009. Other homes that roused me to write: Blanca Uzeta and Cavanaugh O’Leary’s Casa O’Leary in San Miguel de Allende; Tey Diana Rebolledo and Michael Passi’s adobe home in Albuquerque; Flor Garduño’s house in Tepoztlán; Susan Bergholz and Bert Snyder’s Casa Magdalena in Lamy, New Mexico. Lionel and Kathy Sosa’s casita in San Antonio, Texas.

Amigas Nancy Traugott, Lourdes Portillo, Nely Galán, Ruth Behar, Jasna Karaula Krasni, and Gayle Elliott heard some of these poems aloud for the first time. Poet/translator Mary Jane White drove me across Iowa in a silver Jaguar on a season’s first snowfall, on a morning that sparkles in my memory even now. Gratitude to Dennis Mathis, Erasmo Guerra, Cristina Gámez, María Belén Nilson, and Ester Hernández. Gracias to all for ánimo y amistad.

Dennis Mathis, Charlie Hall, and Tim Wheat generously offered their ears while I was proofing these poems. My assistant, the lovely Yvette Marie DeChávez, worked meticulously with me on this manuscript, and la furia de la frontera, Macarena Hernández, offered, as ever, her unflagging labor whenever I needed her. A Ernesto Hilario Espinoza y Eunice Misraim Chávez Muñoz aquí en México, mil gracias por su enorme ayuda que me permitió escribir.

Composer Derek Bermel and my brother musician/artist Henry “Keeks” Cisneros inspired my song poems. Kiki transformed two of my poems to music, performing them for Conjunctions: 75, Dispatches from Solitude, Fall 2020. Pura alegría.

I must recognize my sisters-in-law Silvia Zamora Cisneros and Elizabeth Ann Cisneros for being both family and fans all these years. Thank you for this beautiful, generous gift.

Remarkably, I carried my literary agent Susan Bergholz’s business card in my wallet during the year of my near death. Bookseller/saint Richard Bray brought us together, but I didn’t contact Susan until the following year when I was reborn. This collaboration transformed my life. I am ever amused, amazed, and grateful at the plot lines conceived by Divine Providence.

My new literary agent Stuart Bernstein I suspect must write poetry in secret. How else to account for his sensitivity when editing my work. I know this manuscript could not have come out from hiding without his kind encouragement and guidance.

A los antepasados que me llamaron a México, al pueblo que me inspira, a la Virgen de Guadalupe que me ilumina a cada paso, doy gracias.