Portrait of Abuela as a Child on Laundry Day
Panchita fashions phantom
dances out of linen
stolen from neighbors’ lines
that hammock rainforest sky
the tear down and snap of alligator
clothespins bite
marrow sticky
splinters rope
and tastes like percussion
pushed up against
a river stone washboard
Panchita presses perfume
out of mango peel, banana leaves and
saffron oil hidden in the hearts of her palms.
¡Canta Coqui, Canta!
On a bed made
of too many pillows
Mi Abuelita sits up
and nibbles into English.
Stories of Arecibo without
street lamps, without time,
without roofs and first kisses
on montañas alta spin
as a documentary on tree frogs glows
at the foot of the bed,
a bowl of half-burnt popcorn
between us.
Abuela drops her glasses.
Rubs the water from her eyes.
She says, I should get ready
for them. They sing throughout the night.
They sing because they are happy.
They sing because they are home.
Breathalyzer
Today, I will find mom in her rose garden.
Pretending to be two smashed strawberries
hiding behind a not-so-white picket fence,
I will lie next to her.
Underneath our orange blossom sky,
her face is soft and red.
Her hair is hay
or dead grass.
Golden straw, newly spun. Keys
glitter into glowing ornaments extending her long slender branches.
Sometimes
I dream that I am
working in a sardine cannery.
I cut the heads off the fish
until they want me to do it fast,
faster
and so fast
that I worry the world
cannot eat them
fast enough.
Tomorrow, she will find me.
Within poetry Roberto F. Santiago has discovered a booming collective of voices, and a rickety soapbox whereupon he can shout obscenities and prayers simultaneously. Roberto received his MFA from Rutgers University and BA from Sarah Lawrence College. He is the recipient of the 2011 Alfred C. Carey Prize for Poetry. Currently, he is teaching English Composition at CUNY and works as Student Advisor at a high school in the South Bronx. Travel has also greatly influenced Roberto as a poet. Be it pedaling past the canals in Amsterdam or the smell of rain in rural Québec, he has begun to rewrite his own passport. Roberto also writes and produces his own music, and has been known to dance until he rips his pants. His first full-length collection of poems Angel Park will be released in 2015 by Lethe Press.
