BIO
Mariana Sierra is a Puerto Rican emigrant currently dwelling in the New River Valley. Her poems have appeared in Feminist Studies, WomenArts Quarterly, Cardinal Sins, Cactus Heart and Cliterature Journal.
Postcard from Bayamón
The metro area, not far from San Juan,
I explain when asked where I’m from.
The civilized part of the
island.
You think: palm trees, beaches, piña coladas.
I think: junkies floating
like in Pietri poems.
I think: bullet holes
in my elementary classroom’s
jalousie windows.
I think: the afternoon my mother was mugged,
she yelled out ¡Asalto!, running
after him, while my little sister and I
stayed inside the van, wailing
as we clutched each other,
not even knowing
what the word meant.
I think: elaborate wrought iron
gates beneath each gable roof.
On his first visit to meet my family,
Matt said it looked like we’d
jailed ourselves in.