<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class="">In a Neighborhood in Los Angeles</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">I learned</div><div class="">Spanish</div><div class="">from my grandma</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><i class="">mijito</i></div><div class="">don't cry</div><div class="">she'd tell me</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">on the mornings</div><div class="">my parents</div><div class="">would leave</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">to work</div><div class="">at the fish</div><div class="">canneries</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">my grandma</div><div class="">would chat</div><div class="">with chairs</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">sing them</div><div class="">old</div><div class="">songs</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">dance</div><div class="">waltzes with them</div><div class="">in the kitchen</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">when she'd say</div><div class="">*pot-bellied boy*</div><div class="">she'd laugh</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">with my grandma</div><div class="">I learned</div><div class="">to count clouds</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">to recognize</div><div class="">mint leaves</div><div class="">in flowerpots</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">my grandma</div><div class="">wore moons</div><div class="">on her dress</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Mexico's mountains</div><div class="">deserts</div><div class="">ocean</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">in her eyes</div><div class="">I'd see them</div><div class="">in her braids</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">I'd touch them</div><div class="">in her voice</div><div class="">smell them</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">one day</div><div class="">I was told:</div><div class="">she went far away</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">but still</div><div class="">I feel her</div><div class="">with me</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">whispering</div><div class="">in my ear:</div><div class=""><i class="">mijito</i></div><div class=""><i class=""><br class=""></i></div><div class=""><i class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- </i><span style="font-style: normal;" class="">Francisco X. Alarcón</span></div><div class=""><span style="font-style: normal;" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div class=""><span style="font-style: normal;" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>(</span>translated by Francisco Aragón)</div><div class=""><br class=""></div></body></html>