2nd place winner of Streetlight’s 2018 Poetry Contest

mi gemela

i can hear avocado
trees in the backyard,
the hum of abuela’s
sewing machine
in the kitchen.

the plastic chairs
poke the fat of our
thighs as we watch
telemundo and eat
arepas- hours escape
us.

night ripens and
we lie in bed as
the street lamps
rest on our sabana.
both of us not saying:

i’m waiting for dad too.

Alexandra Mendoza Routt is a native of Miami, Florida who’s taken on the big city to receive her MFA in creative writing at The New School. The inspiration behind Alexandra’s poetry comes from time spent visiting her grandmother in a migrant farm in Immokalee, Florida. Alexandra is currently working on her first collection of poetry.

Featured image: Natural vs Artificial by Júbilo Haku (flickr.com). CC license.