our language isn't broken phrases but limbs of speed
handshakes in forms of wings conveying hope in the everyday holding each other up
from the grounds
I am a first born first generation American Mexican My name derives from my father’s mother María Magdalena and my mother’s mother Carmen My mother wanted Mayan moon goddess Itzel or Hebrew princess Sarah names with roots other than our own No one in my family calls me by my first name María a Latin Hebrew name for sea of bitterness, rebellion My family only calls me by my middle name Carmen a Spanish Latin name for ...
We’re like kids running under shooting red fire hydrants, us, standing in transparent tanks & heavy shorts under our home’s gutter drain. “My turn,” I remember you say but I don’t move. Instead, I close my eyes & remember mom, twirling in her long denim-blue dress on our porch under the rain. Mom would take us outside in the rain to bathe together, ...
Distant beats heard clearly Of memories and dreams still with me I inhale to exhale whats in me Enjoying this moment just with me A lone c ool breeze comes to me Through my third story window