Andres Rojas
WE ARGUED IN SPANISH
BEFORE WE ARGUED IN ENGLISH
Proud of my first
I showed it to her
Hurt like an alien
ripping out of my deltoid
And I had not to cry
nine hours it took
A life-like heart
wrapped in barbed wire
Madre above
Hittite cuneiform below
A language with a script
borrowed from another
As far back as I
could reach a mother tongue
Modir Matar
Mayr in Armenian
Almost Mary
now and in the hour
She sobbed said everyone
would make me for a thug
Called that night crying
I said If I could
I can’t but if I could
I’d choose you again.
(This poem appeared in the Fall 2013 issue of Barrow Street).
teoppoet poetteop 