by Viva Padilla
Poetry
ya sé que no quieres hablar sobre amor que crees que no existe
ni que existe tu sed de mi
que solo existe tiempo y qué hacer con el
los ojos son las únicas cosas donde uno podría encontrar ternura en esta vida digo
en este piso duro me encuentro fingiendo ser enamorada
dime amor, de cual otra manera podre volar con el peso estos huesos?
(part of xolo series)
* * *
translation: “exhibit: moth in pandemic”
i am aware you don’t want to speak about love, as it doesn’t exist to you
neither does your lust for me
that only Time exists and what to do with him
the eyes are the only ways where one can find softness in this life I say
on this hard floor I pretend I am in love
tell me, my love, how else might I fly with the weight of these bones?
Viva Padilla is a bilingual poet, writer, editor, and publisher born and raised in South Central Los Angeles. She’s the founding editor-in-chief of Dryland, an independent print literary journal established in 2015, and Hombre Lobo, an intergenerational book series documenting paranormal/supernatural stories experienced by Xicanx. She is a first-generation Chicana, a daughter of immigrants who crossed the border from Colima, Mexico. She also runs FUTURE NOW, a virtual Black and Brown reading and open mic series. She’s been an invited speaker at universities like CSU Dominguez Hills and CSU Fullerton, and international cultural institutions like Casa de las Américas in Havana, Cuba. Her work has been featured or is forthcoming in the L.A. Times, The Acentos Review, PANK, wearemitú, SAND, the Autry Museum, L.A. Forum for Architecture and Urban Design, the X LA Poets anthology, and others. She currently works at Tia Chucha Press and lives on the Eastside in Los Angeles.