SANDHOUSE – By Elaine Nadal When her house was still standing, it sufficed as a place to bathe, eat, and sleep– a space for the familiar formed by strangers with the same blood drops sprinkled on the dirt, conspicuously evoking words that have been written on the stone walls of a cave– crushed, combined with sand to create a […]
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Enigma – By Elaine Nadal The bells tolled. I heard them. S l o w l y LOUDER Numbing my body. Obscuring my vision. Searching for color in my subconscious… I found images: games, gatherings, horse rides– artifices sufficing for a time. An unrecognizable figure putrefied instantly, leaving ashes S E E P I N G It burns. My […]
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ALAS – By Elaine Nadal I was told I have her eyes, her thick brows– didn’t think much of it: We all have something of someone. My sister has Aunt Natalia’s smile. My brother has Uncle Silo’s curly hair (back in the day when my uncle had hair). I was just glad I didn’t inherit Aunt Rosa’s squared shape. […]
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WATER FOR PUERTO RICO (A Reaction to Puerto Rico’s Struggles) Dad always said, “No te ahogues en un vaso de agua.” “It means don’t drown in a glass of water,” I’d explain to my non-Spanish-speaking friends, wanting to share the magic because, for some reason, when he recited such words, I was able to hold my breath longer underwater, […]
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MY WORDS – By Elaine Nadal Inadequate fragments embedded with Ay, No puede ser, Sí se puede, Pura vida lacking punctuation misunderstood tirelessly running on and on syncopating along the way Lo tengo to’ pensao Pues a veces sometimes spontaneous problem-solving compassionate “Bendito, don’t you worry cariño.” creative making my own spice an unconventional lexicon embedded with made-up words feel […]
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