my mother’s eyes came to brush my head my mother’s eyes came to brush my head they said, grow up well wear clothes that fit ...
ONE QUESTION, SEVERAL ANSWERS
from Shadow Mountain
Where did your father live?
House on Federal, City of Angels.
Where did your father live?
Horse stall at a racetrack.
Where did your father live?
Near the aqueduct, in a man-made desert.
Where did your father live?
By a pear tree.
With pears, ripe pears from that tree.
Where did your father live?
Block 25.
Where did your father live?
With thin strips of tarpaper.
Pot under his straw mattress.
Where did your father live?
Waiting in line to use the latrines.
Waiting in line at the mess hall.
Waiting for his parents.
Where did your father live?
The Desert Chapel.
Where did your father live?
With his brothers,
transplants—
Where did your father live?
In his mother’s heart.
Where did your father live?
Barrack 12, Unit 3.
Where did your father live?
With 5 strand barbs.
With windstorms and bitterbrush.
With years of snowmelt, glacial erasure.
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TWO POEMS by Maniniwei, translated by Emily Lu
THREE POEMS by Juan Mosquera Restrepo, translated by Maurice Rodriguez
Numbers Upon Numbers It’s a rehearsal for the end of the world, I told myself. But it has been the end of many worlds. They say two hundr...
