"A Remedy for Insomnia"
Vera Pavlova

Not sheep coming down the hills,
not cracks on the ceiling-
count the ones you loved,
the former tenants of dreams
who would keep you awake,
once meant the world to you,
rocked you in their arms,
those who loved you . . .
You will fall asleep, by dawn, in tears.

Mi corazon es suyo/Siempre./I see this carved in ( Read more... )

"Do the Math"
Meliza Bañales

The equation goes something like this:
one white mother plus one brown father divided by two different worlds
equals a daughter.
Give or take a decimal the American dream turns out to be
two half-white children, two full-brown children, one small house in South
Central LA, four jobs
divided by two high-school- ( Read more... )

"Ana, In Parts"
Meliza Bañales

I.

Fridays, after school. We take the 57 to St. Catherine's on Redondo Beach Boulevard to confess.

She always wants me to go first.

"I think you just like me to wait for you."

"And?"

"Fine."

She kneels, I enter. I spend fifteen minutes telling my weekly failures to the man behind the screen. Twelve 'hail marys' ( Read more... )