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Recuerdo: Mexico, 1997

Poetry by ​​Esteban Rodríguez
When our turn comes   we feed quarters
down the slot   swing through the turnstile’s
 
rusted arms   I look up   shield my face from
a sun that still feels American   And as the city
 
shudders in and out of focus   and the smell
of gravel   grilled meat and onion singes my nostrils
 
I spot a vendor on the street corner   hawking
in a voice that doesn’t match his limp   a pair
 
of wooden crosses   each of which he thrusts
higher   as though their height will make them
 
more symbolic   attractive   My mother pulls me
harder   pinches my wrist till it swells into a small
 
stigmata   and despite what her body language
tells me I shouldn’t see   the shop owners shouting
 
their latest discounts   the soldiers surveying
the pothole-riddled sidewalks and streets 
 
I gaze at a row of old seated women begging
with barely any teeth   mouthing phrases
 
of a practiced speech   exposing   without shame
the same decay that’s brought my mother back
 
to her home country   and that aggravates
her enough to ignore them   to let our bodies
 
toss our shadows like change at their feet
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Esteban Rodríguez

Esteban Rodríguez is the author of the collections Dusk & Dust (Hub City Press 2019), Crash Course (Saddle Road Press 2019), In Bloom (SFASU Press 2020), and (Dis)placement (Skull + Wind Press 2020). His poetry has appeared in Boulevard, The Rumpus, Shenandoah, TriQuarterly, and elsewhere. He is the Interviews Editor for the EcoTheo Review, an Assistant Poetry Editor for AGNI, and a regular reviews contributor for PANK and Heavy Feather Review. He lives with his family in Austin, Texas.

GORDON SQUARE REVIEW

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