I AM THE BRIDGE
By Mayra Flores
I am the bridge
Between my past
and our future
Between the old world
and the new
Between my abuelita’s hornito
that heated her
tortillas de trigo that she
made between her weathered
hands to sell around town
to keep the many mouths
of her familia fed in El Alamo
after my abuelo was killed;
and my child’s bass lessons, swift
fingers plucking out the sounds
of their heart, the
joy of exploring the Californian
desert together, unhindered,
disconnected from the
technology that distracts us
while connected
to the ancestor’s triumphs
and heartache through
our own.
