LA Weekly is now taking poetry submissions. Interested in having your work posted right here on our arts blog? Send previously unpublished poems along with an image to go with it to poetry@laweekly.com. Check out today's poem after the jump.
Domingos en Los Angeles
By Elizabeth Chaidez
I can see them vividly–
when el corazón desires,
when el corazón wants,
a little piece of home.
Domingos en Los Angeles,
almost seem like a distant memory
Apá barbequing chicken
steak on the griller.
Amá, holding containers
in both her arms.
beans, rice, potato salad,
guacamole. Ya sabes,
the necessities for a carne asada
Canciones de mi padre colonizes the air
accordions, trumpets, guitars,my mother tongue
is entangled in harmonious beauty
Apá sings:
Trigueñita hermosa
linda vas creciendo,
como los capomos
que se encuentran en la flor.
Domingos en Los Angeles,
bring family together, tios, tias
hermanas, perros, gatos,
los pajaritos, la familia.
We walk over to the table–
We sit, we eat, we talk,
we laugh. This is home.
I am home briefly–
When el corazón desires
when el corazón wants–
a little recuerdo.
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