Li Yun Alvarado
Brick City grit
still profiles
in your strut
An infant ‘fro
grasps in search
of fresh freedoms
Caribbean suns shine
through the rough of your
cheek, the white of your tee
Eyes intense but light
like hazelnut
presentimientos
You have no smell
no stale of cigarettes
no Chinatown bus
And your back
is wide, firm, and full
of silent goodbyes
Your Back
Bio
Li Yun Alvarado is a Puerto Rican poet, writer, and educator born and bred in New York City. She has several poems forthcoming in PALABRA, A Magazine of Chicano and Latino Literary Art and has participated in the VONA Writers Workshop in San Francisco. Currently, she is pursuing a Masters degree in English with a creative writing concentration at Fordham University, where she helps coordinate the Poets Out Loud reading series. She lives in New York City and takes frequent trips to Salinas, Puerto Rico to visit la familia.
