Alexandra Martinez: 2 Poems

Citrus, Again

mold and softness
green, pliable like becoming
something else, like
like the
juice collecting under this tree

when the hungry ants
kiss each other around my
minor oasis my
legs tremble
watching them, thinking about you
my mouth is full of seeds
waiting to be spit
nowhere near you

or, maybe up that hill we frequent
where you tell me all the things you
plan us to be
my legs shake again considering these
quaint pictures of useful lives
how very good it must be,
to live that way

After my grandfather got a new pacemaker

The nurse sang Que Sera, Sera
and we smiled at her as she took his blood pressure.
He had to stay an extra day because it was too high.

I look at his swollen feet sometimes, and want to rub them for him
because I think it would bring him comfort.

Sometimes I watch him when he falls asleep on the couch
and I take his arm to wake him and tell him to go to bed.

He never listens
and when the nurse sang Que Sera, Sera
he didn’t hear that either.

Alexandra Martinez is a baker and poet living in the tumbleweeds of Southern California. You can find her on Instagram @alxndramartinez or twitter @mexicanpiggybnk.