It’s been months since I’ve last seen mother.
I wonder if she thinks me dead.
Body buried below the sunken earth,
Thoughts and prayers heard all the way to el reino del señor.

My sporadic phone calls
A vision or dream
My voice lingering
Trailing into distant ears.

My belongings, an alter
To honor the skeleton within the grave.
Cempasúchil adorning my pictures
Around each golden frame.

Remember me…,
I sing from beyond,
No te desilusiones con mi ausencia
Que pronto se acabara este invierno

I’ve come to learn my lesson
I have the whole world to see
Until I’ve grown into what I need
Please, don’t forget me.

***

Norma Guadalupe Camorlinga is a recent graduate from California State University Bakersfield with a BA in Liberal Studies and a minor in History who now lives in Baltimore, Maryland. She sporadically writes poetry to cope with the constant changes in life, in love, in death, but she is alive and fighting. She also lives with a cute little kitten named Potato.