“Lullaby” by Maia Elsner

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Found in Willow Springs 84

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amapola, lindisima amapola

            milk tear falling, falling           through, it leaves its trace inscribing

                                                              tombs
yo te quiero
               in fractured sentences 
             and memorized wounds             amada nina mia

                            petal-satin soft            crumbling into red, you too bled 
                                                                through fingertips

                   igual que ama la Jlor            al luz de! dia

                                         in the Tijuana summer
 
                                   even the sun           crosses over, is lost
                                                                   to the other side               la luz de! dia
                                                                   jutting out hard steel spike hard against
yo te quiero
                             indifferent waves
                                                                   amapola, lindisima
                   you wait for the fog-fall 
                            save pennies from           a second-hand sale from across
                                         the border
                                                      in Mexicali, the US wall makes up 
                                                                   the fourth	of your home
                                  this is the state         transnational trade
you sang to me
 un par de ojitos negros, cielito lindo         de contrabando
               before I lost your language          to the streets, my 'r's all wrong in Spanish 
                     except when I say three          you taught me, counting pebbles
   the tongue-tide sea kisses the edge
                                       of drowning          inbetween two cities
                   & I'm still waving at you          from the other side, you sang to me


un par de ojitos negros
a pair of tangerine wings flecked
                                                        black       ese lunar que tienes
                                                                  junto a la boca lips caress as oars divide
                                                                        an ocean
                                                                                       amada nina mia
no se lo des a nadie
                                 you shut your eyes         they searched you
                                                                        a second time, amapola

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