Ritual. Vessel. Volcano. Vision.

By Manuel González

Read the profile of New Mexico State Poet Laureate Manuel González, here.

Albuquerque, 
  this is healing, 
  reclamation. 
  We sanctify the soil, 
  We are more than crime statistics. 
  We are San Jose sunrises, 
  Barelas barrio alchemy, 
  Central Avenue gospel 
  painting hope in bold strokes of dawn. 

The blue light of the magic hour. 

  From Tramway to Old Town's soul, 
To the west mesa 

We carry medicine in our stride. 
Our mouths, 
our breath. 

Our hearts are war drums. 


  Rebellion embodied. 

Forged in fire 

by volcano breath, 


  blessed by 

the Rio's sacred flow 
  Burque, you are holy ground. 
  Not forgotten, 
  nor forsaken. 
  You are the drum circle, 
  the car show, 
  the lowrider moonrise over 

El Chante: a temple. 
West Mesa: the horizon 
beckoning you to rise again 

Like the sun over the Sandias 
  and ignite every barrio that dimmed its glow. 

We are building a city that heals, 
  That honors, 
  that shouts joy into the future. 

Be the ceremony that heals this whole city. 
  The Universe will listen. 


We struck the first match, 
kissed fire, 
walked smoldering stars. 

We awaken this city, 
by touching rain. 
  Muraled saints, 
  lowrider prophets, 
  pueblo percussion, 
  spoken word sorcerers.
 
Our artists bleed authenticity all over their city! 

Let’s shift systems and slice through borders 


See the Youth with ancient souls, 

grandmothers outchanting algorithms, 

Shift silence to story, 
  trauma to testament, 
  survival to rising. 

Burque, we have the power to rewrite gravity. 
  We forge the future, 
  barefoot, 
  on fire, 
  free. 

We are the artists 
powerful, 
abundant, 
magnetic as moonlight. 
This city raised us 
with calloused hands and hungry prayers. 
We were never broken, 
just buried like seeds. 

We are ancestral dreams and tears nourishing the soil. 


  We’ve mastered sacrifice, 

breath, 

devotion. 

Burque, 
  we build mesas of marigolds and stardust. 
  We move mountains with our tongues. 
  These hands remember miracles. 

Albuquerque, 
  we spray-paint change onto barrio walls, 
  weave it into our daughters’ braids, 
  drop it low with the lowriders. 
  This city is ceremony 
  every block a blessing. 

We are the medicine, 
the miracle, 
the shift. 
We are here. 
We are healing. 
We are sacred. 

We remix the sacred, 
architect revolution with our mouths. 
We are here, 
rising, 
shifting from silence to sovereignty. 

Our art comes out of our pain, our history, our family. 
  Trauma turns to creativity. 
  We are the strategy, 
  the spirit. 
  This is ceremony, 
  rebirth, 
  Burque transforming. 

We rise together, 

ancestors singing, 

hoodies, feathers, microphones, 

altars of pavement, 

we are the medicine, 

We are children of 
corn and chaos, 
mixtapes and medicine wheels. 
We build, 
breathe, 
burn lies 

fluent in flame. 

Like the Mexican Revolution. 
The Pueblo Revolt. 

Our words: 
  ritual. 
  vessel. 
  volcano. 
  vision. 

  We invite communion, inspiration. 
  We are exactly who we came here to be. 

Burque. 
  Here. 
  Now. 
  Community.

Find out more about Manuel González and follow or engage his journey as laureate, here.

—
Manuel González began his three-year appointment as the New Mexico State Poet Laureate in 2025. He is a former Albuquerque Poet Laureate (2016-2018) and is widely respected for his unwavering commitment to community and justice. For more than two decades, González has worked at the intersections of poetry, education, and social change. His leadership has reached detention centers, classrooms, and community spaces throughout New Mexico. As a teacher at the Native American Community Academy, he uses trauma-informed, culturally grounded curricula to empower Indigenous and Chicano youth. He mentors young poets through Brave New Voices and co-founded Low Writing at El Chante: Casa de Cultura, a beloved community workshop that brings intergenerational groups together to write, heal, and build solidarity.