Where the teacher places a star-shaped sticker

abuela’s kiss, así

Always bien portadita.

The road home holding hands

singing ‘sana sana colita de rana’

Back home abuela lights her cigarette.

A sigh, smoke covering her thick glasses

                                                           she looks so beautiful in that light

And then, without washing our hands, we knead the masa.

One, two, three, twist.

One, two, three, fold.

One, two, three, keep going.

Así

One, two, three, twist

little balls para aplastar, una a una, one by one

bien portadita.

Learning to knead,

making gorditas de nata with abuela

One, two, three, twist.

One, two, three, fold.

Abuela smiling again

              and then the door

Abuela always lets them in

bien portadita.

One, two, three, twist

One, two, three, they’ll stop

nunca te detengas.

She lights the stove,

leans in to light her cigarette,

and on with the comal.

Smoke down her chin,

she uses her index and thumb to flip the gorditas

until they are cooked.

One, two, three, twist

One, two, three, fold

One, two, three, eat

Las tablas de multiplicar recitadas a la abuela
las tardes de infancia

until she broke her hip.

One, two, three, twist

One, two, three, fold

One, two, three, hope

Four, five, six, fold

así 

Ten years in bed                                              bien portadita.

Did she dream of gorditas de nata?

One, two, three, twist

One, two, three, fold

When I make gorditas, I

light up the same cigarettes,

bending down and twisting my neck

to light them with the stove

como la abuela

always bien portadita.                                    

Gabriella Munoz is a writer and the editor of Puentes Review. Her work has been published internationally in places like Meanjin, Cordite, Kill Your Darlings, Picnic and Confabulario, among others. She is a 2019 Wheeler Centre Hot Desk Fellow and currently works in marketing and communications at the Stella Prize.