This is why el arado not plough
fierro anchor sound like arado not plough, arado—
not ploughshare dough earth—la reja
cuchilla entre la tierra
—arrastrar
rake filo jalar
not pound
claw las garras
not palm mound
arado rascar
you must be fanged, arrancar el rastro
not bedraggled ragged strolling
entre la tierra entrar
rueda jalar not roll
yes plough because push
but tierra not ground because arrado entre
la tierra
BIO: Cynthia Alessandra Briano is Director of the Rapp Saloon Reading Series and Founder of Love On Demand Global. She is the daughter of Mexican immigrants, grew up in Southeast L.A., and at 14, attended boarding school in Massachusetts. She earned a B.A. from Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania and a Master in Fine Arts in Poetry from UC Riverside. Cynthia teaches at Cal. State University Fullerton in the African American Studies Department as part of the Ethnic Studies Program. She has been recipient of the Lois Morrell & J. Russell Hayes Poetry Prize and finalist in the James Hearst Poetry Prize.
Twitter/Instagram: @CynthiaABriano Facebook: @cbriano1