New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs welcomes you to subscribe and support our state’s cultural treasures.
For over a century, El Palacio has been a forum for voices exploring New Mexico’s art, archaeology, history, and landscape. Explore the writers, photographers, historians, and scientists whose perspectives have defined the magazine’s pages—past and present.
Arthur Sze is the current U.S. Poet Laureate. Sze is a poet, translator, and editor. He is the author of twelve books, including Into the Hush, Sight Lines, and others. Sze’s poems have been translated into fifteen languages, and he is the recipient of the National Book Award among many other honors. He lives in Santa Fe.
Deborah Jackson Taffa is a citizen of the Quechan Nation and Laguna Pueblo. Her memoir Whiskey Tender was a 2024 National Book Award Finalist and was longlisted for the 2025 Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction. Taffa serves as the director of the MFA in creative writing program at the Institute of American Indian Arts.
Cara Romero is an award-winning contemporary fine art photographer. An enrolled citizen of the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe, Romero’s expansive oeuvre has been informed by formal training in film, digital, fine art, and commercial photography. She maintains a studio in Santa Fe, regularly participates in Native American art fairs, and was featured in PBS’ Craft in America (2019).
Michelle Otero (opens in a new tab) is the author of Vessels: A Memoir of Borders, Bosque: Poems and the essay collection Malinche’s Daughter. She served as Albuquerque Poet Laureate from 2018-2020 and co-edited the New Mexico Poetry Anthology (2023) and 22 Poems and a Prayer for El Paso, a tribute to victims of the 2019 El Paso shooting and winner of a New Mexico-Arizona Book Award. She is a member of the Macondo Writers Workshop.
The poem wants to drink water from the stream running through land that hasn’t been in the family since the gringos came but will settle for lead-free pipes and no rotten-egg smell to visit a doctor when her bones ache and her head burns without waiting or worryingwhat they might find because she might not have the cash but would
![Close-up view of an uneven mud brick wall with rough texture and visible gaps between the bricks. [gen-ai]](https://elpalacio.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/iStock-152544629-400x225.jpg)
A version of this poem was created for the Environmental Grantmakers Association Annual Retreat, September, 2014 By Michelle Otero — Michelle Otero is the poet laureate of Albuquerque (2018–2020) and the author of the forthcoming Bosque (UNM Press, 2021). Originally from Deming, New Mexico, she holds a bachelor of arts in history from Harvard College and an master of fine arts in creative writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts.
