Tortillas On a Sunday Afternoon
Soft, crunchy, malleable, torn
Tortillas take on many forms and shapes.
In the eagerness of listening
The melodies of language
Reclining on Mother’s chest…
Language of novelas, Sábado Gigante,
Walter Mercado’s extravagant outfits.
Where music invited rhythms
making the heart warm.
Patterns along the tile floor
Beautiful long brown hair flowing as the rivers.
Our hands caressing the masa.
Tortillas puff up
Over the comal’s surface.
Hips swaying as the hammock on a summer’s day.
Chanclas rooted in spice, lemon, salt, and tequila.
Pliable yet remaining intact across borders’.
The legacy of making tortillas passed on
my palms all muscle memory.
In them the power of creation.
Reconstruction,
As the potter hunched over the turning wheel.
Picking here and there, flipping it,
Just in time.
Tortillas are best enjoyed warm and
in good company.
Mayte C. Castro’s poetry focuses on immigration, culture and travel, and self-expression as a road to sharing the realities of living in the United States as a daughter of immigrants. Mayte’s cultural background is Mexican. Additional published poetry can be found in braveexpressions.com, https://wapoetlaureate.org/poetry-to-lean-on/, Ice Colony, The Under Review, Arte Latino Now, and Azahares. You can follow her on Instagram at Mexi_Ginger.