Visiting Your Grave
by Juan J. Morales
Hello, I’m Juan J. Morales, an assistant professor of English at Colorado College and a poet that lives in Pueblo, Colorado, here for Poets on the Plains. Today I am sharing my poem, “Visiting Your Grave,” from my latest collection, Dream of the Bird Tattoo, which was published by the University of New Mexico Press in 2025.
I grew up in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and I am the son of an Ecuadorian mother and a Puerto Rican father. I also grew up right outside of the Ft. Carson Army Base where military culture was a regular part of my life even though my father retired from the US Army when I was very young. We did all our grocery shopping, library visits, and doctor appointments on base. I also grew up alongside other Army brats, who also knew this life well.
As an adult, my father passed away at the age of 86 years old very surprisingly, and his death became the main inspiration for Dream of the Bird Tattoo, which explores love and grief after his death. The book also has funny vignettes of Pop when he was alive, ghost stories, the rest of family’s reflections on grief, and little dream poems, or what I call “sueñitos,” which show other ways our minds navigate grief and process our complicated emotions.
The poem I am going to read, titled, “Visiting Your Grave,” is a small elegy that takes place in the Pikes Peak National Cemetery, which is on the plains, just east of Colorado Springs. I wrote it very quickly after going to the cemetery to pay my respects on his first birthday after his death.
My poem relies on several keys to the elegy form, including direct address, lament, reverence, gratitude, and the use of the landscape to reflect the overwhelming emotions of the moment. Poems about grief also intend to show the heavy loss is raw and perhaps even everlasting, but it also can show us all that we are not alone in the journey through it. We do our best to keep living our lives while also acknowledging the memories of the ones we miss.
Visiting Your Grave
I speak to white marble,
marking your name, rank, and wars
at the Pikes Peak National Cemetery.
I read your favorite psalm and a poem
with my family behind me,
waiting in the grass
on a hot morning,
the day after your birthday.
Just before arriving I took a wrong turn
and kept driving
into eastern plains, where
pronghorns tried to tell me something
about quiet. Some grazed and others rested,
blending in yellow grass
under a cloudless sky.
We affirm you would like it here.
Pikes Peak still holds a cap of snow,
and I’m thinking of rivers running
high this summer,
me crying behind sunglasses,
a personal flood. I promise to return soon
with a kiss on top of the tombstone,
like I used to peck
you, my beautiful father, on
your stubbled cheek.
Visiting Your Grave used with permission.
Thank you for joining us today for Poets on the Plains. I’m Juan J. Morales, coming to you from Pueblo, Colorado.
ADDENDUM
Juan Morales’ father Jose Morales-Lugo was born in Lajas, Puerto Rico, April 19, 1932, the third of nine children born to the Jose Morales and Carmen Zoela Pabon.
Jose proudly served thirty-one years in the US Army, where he started as a Private and retired as Sergeant Major in 1982. He served in the Korean War and completed two tours of duty in the Vietnam War. He was a highly decorated soldier, whose awards included the Combat Infantry Badge, the Army Commendation Medal, the Jungle Training Expert Badge, two Purple Hearts, and the Bronze Star.
After retiring from the US Military, Jose worked hard as a Laundry Technician at Memorial Hospital for twenty years. In his life and in his retirement, Jose enjoyed spending time with his family, attending his church, shooting pool, winning at ping pong, and traveling to visit family in Puerto Rico and Ecuador. He made everyone around him laugh, inspired them, and shared his wisdom.
POETS ON THE PLAINS HOST
Juan J. Morales is the son of an Ecuadorian mother and Puerto Rican father and grew up in Colorado. He is the author of four poetry collections, including The Handyman’s Guide to End Times and his latest, Dream of the Bird Tattoo, published by the University of New Mexico Press. Recent poems have appeared in The Laurel Review, Breakbeats Vol. 4 LatiNEXT, Acentos Review, terrain.org, South Dakota Review, Sugar House Review, and Poetry. Morales has received fellowships from CantoMundo, Macondo, Longleaf Writers Conference, and he has served as the editor/publisher of Pilgrimage Press. He lives in Pueblo, Colorado and is an Assistant Professor of English at Colorado College. https://www.unmpress.com/9780826367587/dream-of-the-bird-tattoo/
