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by Sandra Cisneros

You bring out the Mexican in me. The hunkered thick dark spiral. The core of a heart howl. The bitter bile. The tequila lágrimas on Saturday all through next weekend Sunday. You are the one I’d let go the other loves for, surrender my one-woman house. Allow you red wine in bed, even with my vintage lace linens. Maybe. Maybe.

For You.

You bring out the Dolores del Rio in me. The Mexican spitfire in me. The raw navajas, glint and passion in me. The raise Caine and dance with the rooster-footed devil in me. The spangled sequin in me. The eagle and serpent in me. The mariachi trumpets of the blood in me. The Aztec love of war in me. The fierce obsidian of the tongue in me. The berrinchuda, bien-cabrona in me. The Pandora’s curiosity in me. The pre-Columbian death and destruction in me. The rainforest disaster, nuclear threat in me. The fear of fascists in me. Yes, you do. Yes, you do.

You bring out the colonizer in me. The holocaust of desire in me. The Mexico City ’85 earthquake in me. The Popocatepetl Ixtaccíhuatl in me. The tidal wave of recession in me. The Agustín Lara hopeless romantic in me. The barbacoa taquitos on Sunday in me. The cover the mirrors with cloth in me. Sweet twin. My wicked other, I am the memory that circles your bed nights, that tugs you taut as moon tugs ocean. I claim you all mine, arrogant as Manifest Destiny. I want to rattle and rent you in two. I want to defile you and raise hell. I want to pull out the kitchen knives, dull and sharp, and whisk the air with crosses. Me sacas lo mexicana en mi, like it or not, honey.

You bring out the Uled-Nayl in me. The stand-back-white-bitch in me. The switchblade in the boot in me. The Acapulco cliff diver in me. The Flecha Roja mountain disaster in me. The dengue fever in me. The !alarma¡ murderess in me. I could kill in the name of you and think it worth it. Brandish a fork and terrorize rivals, female and male, who loiter and look at you, languid in your light. Oh,

I am evil. I am the filth goddess Tlazoltéotl. I am the swallower of sins. The lust goddess without guilt. The delicious debauchery. You bring out the primordial exquisiteness in me. The nasty obsession in me. The corporal and venial sin in me. The original transgression in me.

Red ocher. Yellow ocher. Indigo. Cochineal. Piñón. Copal. Sweetgrass. Myrhh. All you saints, blessed and terrible, Virgen de Guadalupe, diosa Coatlicue, I invoke you.

Dmitry Kochanovich (Russian,b. 1972)

Outside

𝙉𝙤𝙨𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙪 - 𝘙𝘰𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘌𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘴 (2024) // 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘿𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢 - 𝘍𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘻 𝘚𝘤𝘩𝘸𝘪𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘬 (1909)