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Gabi Cortez

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If they only knew
what joy they filled inside me
like a river flowing with pure blue water
I would give everything
just for more time
to sing words I half understand
or feel the loving rub of a dark hand against my back.
It is hard to believe that I manage
while half of my heart longs for what it knows it’s missing
yet still has deep within the core.

aching for that ungodly heat
the sound of frying empanadas from the apartment kitchen
memories whispering in the walls of a beach house
once made by Mami and Papi
though they are still there
pulling out the weeds in the sand
and setting the table
once you close your eyes.

love can be tasted in a bowl of guacuco
or smelled within the skin of Abuelo.
it’s all just there
though so far away
from my longing senses
though in my dreams
I can climb on las piedras
and feel the creases in the hands of my little cousin
and with a tight squeeze hold him closer
to feel the glow flooding from his smile
sending loving heat right to my corazon.

When it is time to
walk the plank of goodbye
with an ocean of rocky water rippling beneath
I jump, eyes shut
and everything is quiet
I see images
made up of the people I long to embrace
and smell
and hear
but I will just have to wait one more year.

[TABLE OF CONTENTS, LHS CLASS OF 2012 EDITION]