Elsa Valmidiano: Isn’t That Stealing
GUAVA PICKING
Picking the guava from the tree
isn’t that stealing
I make an exception for my father
turn my head
embarrassed
scared of the owner who might catch him stealing
and I let him.
He reaches high
pulls down branches like it’s no big deal
not trying to hide the fact he’s stealing
“Oh yeah, I’ve done this before.
This fruit is sweet, sweeter than the one we have.
You have to try. Naimas.”
My mother ignores my father’s crime
as if this is what is to be expected.
It is to be expected.
I take the guava into my hand
notice the seeds are smaller –
– I am smaller –
inhale its bright green rind
as we dodder home
me, an idiot.
I love my father like a child,
like he is a child, teaching me
things I have forgotten as an adult.
These walks with my parents –
am I cutting into their romance or routine?
I go with them
because I am wanted.
OAKLAND MURALIST
for Trinilyn, for Yunnie, for Ghost Ship
What is it about her artist smile
who uses her hand to paint
sashes of dark blue
celestial bodies when
the world is going to shit,
painting on a ceiling or wall
ready to crumble or combust,
but joy and abandon remain
etched into her eyes,
just when you thought
the impossible is impossible,
she introduces herself
with arms like wings outstretched
and a marigold in her hair
as she escorts you outside,
our attention focused
on the grand sweep
of her hand
like a ballet dancer
sashaying across the stage
to show us her mural
that we fail to notice
the heartbeat of
helicopters circling
directly overhead.
Elsa Valmidiano’s works have appeared in TAYO, make/shift, Burner, As/Us, Literature for Life, Bottlecap Press, and others, as well as anthologies Field of Mirrors, Walang Hiya, Circe’s Lament, and forthcoming in Precipice: Writing On The Edge. In 2016, she was a finalist for the Rita Dove Award in Poetry, and was also long-listed for the Short Memoir Prize by Fish Publishing in Ireland. This summer, Elsa has been awarded to attend the DISQUIET International Literary Program in Lisbon. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Mills College and has performed numerous readings throughout the SF Bay Area.
