The Acentos Review

 
 

PS. 1 in `64

 

                  Bluebird Bluebird

                        through my window 

                  Bluebird Bluebird

                        through my window 

                  Bluebird Bluebird

                        through

                              my

                                    winn

                                          dow… 

One, two,

buckle my shoe… 

That is not the way

you ask someone

to help tie your shoes!

Do you hear me?

Can you hear me!

Can you hear me And-Dray-Ess? 
 

                              Jack and Jill

                                    went up the hill

                                          to get a pail of water.

                        And Jane ran and Spot ran, and only Sam

                        could eat green eggs and ham for breakfast.

                        I usually had juice and café con leche y pan italiano

                        con lluebos y papas fritas or Corn Flakes.

But skipped breakfast the cold morning

I fainted in the schoolyard –

                        Looked up to see a huddle of Curious George faces: 

School sent Babar the guidance counselor

      to lecture The Old Lady Who Lived in A Shoe on nutrition.

                        Que insulto, como si no puedo criar mi hijo!

No one’s saying you don’t know how to raise him. 



Bluebird Bluebird

            through myy  winn…dow ...




PS II in `65

 

            I walked small Borinquen roads

                  through green island fields -

                  sweaty 80’s, 90’s, hotter

                        to reach my barracks of a school.

                  For lunch:

                        chicken noodle soup

                              & warm powdered milk

                                                two women mixed

                                                in a large metal tub outside

                              & ladled into clear glass pitchers –

                 Sandwhiches were white bread

                              & American cheese. 

                                          Under a full flowering tree

                                             I and other boys in white shirts

                                          and girls in little bright dresses

                                             paired off

                                          to play a game:

                                             Take a flower’s stamen,

                                          hold its lower end

                                             very carefully, keeping

                                          hand steady, hook

                                              its knitting needle

                                          head with an other’s,

                                             then delicately

                                          tug and turn

                                             until the other’s

                                          head is off,

                                             or yours.

                                          If you rush

                                             you’ll almost always lose.

                                          I didn’t win at first –

                                             Wish I could remember

                                          the little girl’s face

                                             who taught me how to play. 
 

 

Two Poems



Andrés Castro




Andrés, after receiving his MFA from Brooklyn College, founded the non-extant U.S. Latino Review. He submits, “…my naive romantic attempt to bridge between Latino/as groups themselves and all others. I learned much from my successes and failures. I also found out what a poor excuse for a Latino I am.” He founded The Teacher's Voice and it continues to grow in every way. The next theme issue calls for a look at the absence of African, Latino/a, Asian, and other underrepresented groups in education and English departments at the local and national level—especially in real decision-making positions (if any actually exist these days). 

A member of Pen, listed in the Directory of Poets and Writers, his work continues to appear in small press literary magazines. His most recent published poem appears in Left Curve.  

He is extremely happy to see his wife, Masayo, complete her certification as a Japanese language instructor and his son, Manuel, and daughter, Haruko, continue to grow as high school educators and much more.