I AM THE BRIDGE

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.