The heat did things to us both 

by Amanda Levendowski 

Five years later, I remember everything 
about Marco Rodarte, and the times 
I combed my fingers 
through the wiry thicket of his beard 
and found 
two rosaries, chips of 
terracotta tiles, dried saguaro spines, 
the pebbly skin of an avocado, 
strings of carne asada, 
a slender statuette of 
Our Holy Mother of Guadelupe, 
who sometimes whispered advice 
in my ear when Marco and I 
laid down to kiss 
in the back seat of my Toyota Camry, 
and other times stayed silent. 

Amanda Levendowsi is a senior at Gallatin studying publishing and intellectual property, and she will be attending law school in the fall. She is no longer on speaking terms with the Virgin Mary (or Marco Rodarte).