The poem wants

to drink water from the stream running through land that hasn’t been in the family since   
the gringos came but will settle for lead-free pipes and no rotten-egg smell

to visit a doctor when her bones ache and her head burns without waiting or worrying
what they might find because she might not have the cash but would settle for another year
or two on her parents’ health insurance

the poem wants an end to megadrought, dousings to fill the aquifer and flow the Río
Grande but will settle for one good snow, one good monsoon

the poem wants you to love a woman who isn’t and won’t be a mother as much as you love
a fetus but will settle for lower rates of sepsis in Texas

the poem wants 

purple mountains

no majesty 

wants

amber, turquoise

empathy

black beans

grain

maybe the poem just wants too much 

---

Wait for her

after Mahmoud Darwish

With a cup of bluecorn atole

Ground by mother hands in the molcajete you 

Carried in place of extra water. Remember 

How it held rain. Welcome her 

As you welcomed monsoons, chin

Raised, mouth open, eyes closed. You will

Know her by the shift in breeze, the damp

On your tongue, and scent of creosote. Remember 

The word petrichor. Remember all the words

You pinned to inside pockets in place of papers

Proving you were you, porque quién eres sin ceniza 

Polvo, pan y agua, sin Florentino, Jesusita, Eleuteria, 

Rosaura, Pantaleón and the grandma you called China

For her curly hair. Forgive the curly haired grandma her 

Sharp edges, the grandfather his tender soles. You know

So much desert can cut, burn. You know the cast 

Iron skillet provides but does not love. You told yourself 

Your favorite season was Lent. Wash her feet

With rosewater. Dry her toes with your hair.

—

Michelle Otero is the author of Vessels: A Memoir of Borders, Bosque: Poems and the essay collection Malinche’s Daughter. She served as Albuquerque Poet Laureate from 2018-2020 and co-edited the New Mexico Poetry Anthology 2023 and 22 Poems and a Prayer for El Paso, a tribute to victims of the 2019 El Paso shooting and winner of a New Mexico-Arizona Book Award. She is a member of the Macondo Writers Workshop.