Maria Dolores

 

Maria Dolores sells yo-yos that

light up in the dark. She spits fire

at cars on La Reforma for change. She

can make a flute. She carves obsidian

into a perfect sphere. She also hawks

Korean-made Batmans that swoop down on

a string. It’s a month since Maria Dolores

ate. The babies come first, that’s all

there is to it. A month of singing ballads

for coins on the Blue Line between Hildalgo

& Tasquena, shaking dirt out of her

guitar on the platform between trains.

 

 

Mexico City

16 June 1991

 

 

[Published in Grasslands.

© 1994 by Jim Cohn.]

 

 

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Grasslands
(Writers & Books Publications, 1994)

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