his jawbone caged my grandfather’s skin

 
 
the same skin on braved-bone/ that once
picked apricots on an orchard farm/ like
delicate newborns/ such sweet children he
had/ during the humid summers/ he slept
under the shade/ of any tree/ praying to the
moon/ or stars/ or god/ across the sky/ like
silver dollars far from his reach/ how
beautiful he dreamt that night of a home/
built of sore knee/ tired back/ when the
orange man found a place in america/ some
cheered/ some cried their body funeral/ but
what does crying mean in this country/ my
abuelo sits at the kitchen table/ fox news
spills into the same air he labors to belong
in/ his resistance/ swatting the fruit flies
over a browned apple
 
 
 

Karla Cordero is the recipient of the 2015 Loft Literary Center Spoken Word Immersion fellowship (Minneapolis, MN) and editor of SpitJournal, an online literary review for poetry and social justice. Karla's chapbook, Grasshoppers Before Gods (2016) was published by Dancing Girl Press. Her work has appeared in Word Riot, Poetry International, The Acentos Review, Toe Good Poetry, among other publications.