Teresa Palomo Acosta
Two Poems
Chicana intifada
Rocks are our weapons of choice,
indeed the only ones that we have stockpiled.
We never worry about running out of them.
After all, our unpaved streets are filled with rocks.
We have wiped the dirt off them so that they may sail
with a smooth hardness when we fling them into the air.
We shall name each one of our rocks for the family members
we have lost each year of the hundreds of years we’ve lived in
these parts—as indios, as mestizos, as “Hi-panics.”
For starters, we plan to break a few windows
of the jefe’s casota nueva.
I myself will be delighted to land one in each pane:
center, left, right, top, bottom—the exact location
doesn’t much matter.
Why should his fancy house remain intact
while we cannot count on running water?
No one will suspect
that an abuela is la capitana of the Chicana intifada,
with her disguise of hat and gloves,
of shiny earrings and sheer “nude” pantyhose;
with her polite yes, ma’aming.
“We’ll launch the first volleys at 6 p.m.,”
she whispers to us. Smiling wryly, she adds,
“Inside the house at a reception to which
I’ve been properly invited you’ll see me
lower my right gloved hand to the marble table.”
The all-pink doily
The all-pink doily,
some five inches
in diameter
resembles fine lace.
It is semi-perfect,
with a slightly off-balanced
ending row,
a question mark its ending coda.
The sunlight
peers through it
when I hold it up to the window on an
August afternoon.
Perhaps it is ‘ama’s signature
at 90 and a half years of age.
I prefer to think it is that instead of an error
in counting rows. My sister-in-law, bent
on perfection, wants her to make
another row to even things up.
I protest—silently. We leave it be.
'Ama’s way is
Picasso’s: invented on purpose, and all the rest.
Copyright (C) Teresa Palomo Acosta, 2007. All rights reserved.
Abalone Moon includes poetry and art by both emerging and established poets and artists. We welcome you, and hope that you find the poetry and art rewarding. Please sign up for our newsletter to be notified about upcoming issues. We are both thematic and eclectic in our choice of poetry and art, and include art and poetry that is current and universal in its content. You will find poetry about war, art and poetry that celebrate nature, sculpture and poetry with animal themes, art and poetry about our human connections, poetry with the themes of love and loss. We publish new poetry and art two to three times a year. Enjoy your visit, and please add us as a link if you have a poetry or art related, or environmental/ political website.
Thanks to Peter Bunce of Techsolutions for his help with computer related issues!