A World of Light and Shadow

she teaches me to place the poblano onto the burner grate

blister the flesh and burn til it’s charred black

scorched earth fills the warm kitchen

 

we stack them up like logs on wooden cutting board

she shows me how easy it is to peel back

the skin from the flesh

she looks at me,  “no tocamos los ojos”

we do not touch our eyes

 

if we touch our eyes, we will cry

it will burn and we will cry

and when she forgets to tell us

and when I forget what she said

and when she forgets who I am 

and when I forget what she sounds like

and the smell that filled that kitchen

I will cry

 

My tears will fill the fountain

And go back into the earth

Back to her in the ground

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