#happy inauguration day everybody

ecc-poetry:

la bandera / américa
elisa chavez

¿Sabes qué?

En Barcelona,
hay catedral inconclusa.
Hace más que un siglo,
pálidos cuerpos de santos
y agujas sin resolución
se han formado como coral.

¿Cuántos manos la tocaron?
¿Cuánto tenemos que esperar
para el coronamiento?
Perdemos la paciencia.
Muchas personas
nos han hecho promesas
y cada incompleta nos merma.

Sin embargo,
todo el mundo la visita.
Quizás la gente cree en
la promesa de su mármol.
Quizás mitad-maravilla
es mejor que nada.
Cuando te vengo, sagrada,
traigo ladrillo.

Don’t you know?

This country
is like returning to my childhood
home and finding
bodies in the drywall.
Like learning I’ve been bred
on bone-dust

and martyr marrow.
Not my parents’ strong hands.
Not my spine.
This country’s concrete lullaby
makes my mind a petri dish:
replicate and replicate.
It makes a coroner of me.

The sins I’ve eaten
embarrass me,
this genteel cannibal feast.
How could I not know
whose marbled meat?
America, you cauldron.
You sacred vein.
You tourniquet.

Miss Translated is an exploration of identity, language, family history, and the things that get lost in translation. If you like this work, consider buying the Miss Translated chapbook. Proceeds benefit the New Sanctuary Coalition, an immigrant rights group based in NYC. You can also support the author on Patreon.