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La Cultura de Latino, Roanoke, Virginia
by Elani Spencer

After my reading, an Afro-Latina woman asked me:
¿Cómo sabes sobre coquito y jarritos?
her eyes still puffy for all the notes of fear
piling up in teachers mailboxes,
for all the knock and talks with bullet proof vests,
for all the visas weighing down denim pockets
that should’ve been gold

I told her: La cultura de latina es con vida,
rumbling within the vermilion brick
of Market Square, deliciously steaming
from the kitchen of Garcia’s Bistro,
singing out of a passing car window
shimmying down the narrow road,
raising its hand from the back
of a Blue Literacy English class,
sharing pieces of home
with out-of-state college students
inside warm beds of rice

As a non-native speaker, I try
to keep accent marks
from doing somersaults in my mouth,
but let them breathe on my tongue
and speak the truth no one wants to hear

The Afro-Latina woman is listening
and so is the Korean-American next to her,
so we will sit in the heart
of the Melrose Branch Library,
exchanging lines of poetry
until we fill our Star City tote bags,
holding space for La cultura de latina
and each other

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