s.g. maldonado-vélez

sleepy time on the plains

—for Jamie D’Agostino

you whistle for geese

while i hear a can crush

on cement across the street

silence honks

overhead let’s sit here

and watch because every

year the supermoon seems

to get bigger ever year the

time gets longer a thousand

since we whispered nice

a million since we smiled

we have on the

same radio station

listing names of grandmothers 

who have lost another

to the red string silhouette 

circus holding up

our own shackles

made of cured leather

the tricks we perform

take time when we

hold back you paint

another portrait to

remember faces

sewn with care

cruelty so quiet

my mom fucked

lightning and

i came out a pant leg

what else do you

expect from the

midwest

Raquel Gutiérrez