Blanket Azul

Wrapped

in the blanket azul of her birth,

the little girl spells inmigrante beside inmate

with a stick in the dirt on the border

between cage and patrolman earth.

Donde es mi Mama and where is my sleep 

takes a line below the border, but the guard 

will kick dog dust at her words,

shove dust through the fence teeth,

stamp out the rise of a little voice and

the loss will compel her to cry

and sleep with the shivering hills

of motherless bodies wrapped

in blankets of their birth.

Mama said stay with me

en tu corazon.

The little girl reaches her fingers

through holes in the fence

and gathers shards of beer bottle glass

and trashed cigarettes

the guards spit and leave.

She spells inmigrante beside inmate

and Mama en mi corazon and hides

and reads her first poetry each night

beneath her blanket azul and all the boots

and dog dust in the world

could not take her words away,

could not drag her words away,

could not make her forget.

When she is old, she dreams,

she will sing them while her husband

plays la guitarra and the children will know:

Inmigrantes son inmates here,

donde es mi Mama and my bed?

Where is my sleep?

I am sad, Mama me dijo

stay with me en tu corazon.

I am afraid and alone.

But I will pull my blanket close

and stay warm.

I will pull my blanket close

and stay warm.