Skip to content →

Mi Mamá Me Ama

I have a moon. I had six mothers

in my poverty.

Is this all I have for myself?

I was born, like everyone, in a house

with one door.

I have memories

to revise.

No doubt, you’ll find

the expiration date.

Mi mamá me ama. I laid waste to my health

in the walls of her heart, while regretting

this analogy

for the labor of a body.

I had a house with three windows.

I remembered her

alone with her memories of youth,

the deep-hearted course

of one rough word turned

judgment in my blood—mother.

As for her, this is the truth:

when she cries

for her mother, I dismantle all walls

to extract her with one word

—mother.

I learn her sacrifice

and grace.

I had one moon. Mother, teach me

when to seek out.

I’ll note the expiration date.

That’s how I talked while my mother,

with fruit, fed me.

Tengo una luna. Tuve seis madres

en la pobreza.

¿Esto es todo de mí mismo?

Nací, como todos, en una casa

con una puerta.

Tengo recuerdos

por corregir.

Sin duda, encontrarás fecha de vencimiento.

Mi mamá me ama. He estropeado mi salud

en las paredes de su corazón, arrepentido

por esta analogía

para el funcionamiento del cuerpo.

Tuve una casa con tres ventanas.

Recordé que se encontraba

sola con sus recuerdos de juventud, el curso

coronario

de su palabra ruda, vuelta juicio

en sangre—madre.

En cuanto a mi madre, esta es mi verdad:

cuando ella llora

por la suya, desmantelo todas las paredes

para extraerla con una palabra

—madre.

Sabré de su sacrificio,

de su gracia.

Tuve una luna. Mamá, enséñame

a entender.

Sin duda, encontraré fecha de vencimiento.

Así hablaba yo mientras mi madre,

con frutas, me alimentaba.

from The Life AssignmentFind more by Ricardo Alberto Maldonado at the library

Copyright © 2020 Ricardo Alberto Maldonado
Used with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC on behalf of Four Way Books.

Published in Poems Ricardo Alberto Maldonado

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Idaho Humanities Council, a State-based program of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this (publication, website, exhibit, etc.) do not necessarily represent those of the Idaho Humanities Council or the National Endowment for the Humanities.