Translation Key

Before they learned to read
notes, my fingers ran the length
of the dining table, tapping out
imaginary songs. 

*

The bowl of soup
went untouched, the plate
of rice draped with leaves
blanched in vinegar.

*

When a bell clanged in the alley, 
our mothers warned us not to eat  
dirty ice cream: it came in pastel 
colors, each flavor like the next.

*

Behind the stump of the cut-
down tree, a wild mushroom
spread its round and 
breathing face. 

*

Señorita, señorita
called the fish vendors, 
fanning open the milkfish 
belly lined with fat.

*

There are days when my mouth 
craves only the salt of bodies 
that cluster on white rocks,  
feasting on fried crickets' wings.