BISABUELA MARRIED A SPANIARD
twenty years older than her palms & my hands slice the necks
of marigolds offer their afro-petal heads to ask did sun between
corn husk bath in the warmth of your cheek first did he
offer leather the dead deer shot by the greed covered bullet
offer red meat what part of my bones belong
to the ship that broke the sea that broke your tongue
did he lace every birthed child in silver
spoon fed a language unknown to half the blood they
own choked on each letter i give these thoughts many names:
clipped wings
wind as myth
the acrobat who lives in this flesh
HOW TO BE A GHOST ON EARTH
Using sections from Gloria Anzaldúa’s Borderlands/La Frontera
definition for ghost-mouth
I remember being caught speaking Spanish at recess—
that was good for three licks on the knuckles with a
sharp ruler. I remember being sent to the corner of the
classroom for “talking back” to the Anglo teacher
when all I was trying to do was tell her how to
pronounce my name. you want to be American
speak American. If you don’t like it go back to Mexico
where you belong.
Karla Cordero is a descendant of the Chichimeca tribe from northern Mexico, a Chicana poet, educator, and activist, raised along the borderlands of Calexico, CA. She is a Pushcart nominee and has been offered fellowships from CantoMundo, VONA, Macondo, The Loft Literary Center, Pink Door Women’s Writing Retreat. Her work has appeared and forthcoming in The Boiler Journal, The Cosmonauts Avenue, Tinderbox, Word Riot, Poetry International, among other anthologies and publications. Karla’s chapbook, Grasshoppers Before Gods (2016) was published by Dancing Girl Press and her first book is to be published by NOT A CULT. Publishing (Fall 2018).
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