Making Gorditas

The method passed forward
through the mouth
like anything good:
flesh // worship // gossip // breath.
Their little fate measured out
by my mother’s hands // measured
by her mother’s // by her mother’s //
going back & back like that,
in a circle. Roll a masa ball
the size of an infant’s fist.
Use the fat of your fingers
to pat the baby-heart
flat as an open palm.
Pat // pat // pat // like that.
The baby did something bad.
Or maybe the baby is choking.
Pat // pat // pat. Then decide
how thick each will be // if hot
or sweet // & how many
pieces of meat // pork
or chicken // red or green.
Too much // too much // or not
enough. A lifetime is all we get.

—

Benjamin Garcia works in HIV/HCV/STD and opioid overdose prevention in the Finger Lakes region of New York. He had the honor of being the 2017 Latinx Scholar at the Frost Place, 2018 CantoMundo Fellow at the Palm Beach Poetry Festival, and winner of the 2018 Puerto Del Sol Poetry Contest. His work has recently appeared or is forthcoming in: American Poetry Review, Missouri Review, New England Review, Best New Poets 2018, Palette Poetry, and Boston Review. Find him on twitter: @bengarciapoet