The time always comes,
when in all of my family gatherings
they chat about the achievements
of my cousins, their successes:
Rodrigo’s graduation from med school
Edgar’s job in France,
Arturo, José Carlos, and Jorge´s weddings,
the unmatched feat that it is
to have something that lasts forever.
Flashing a smile,
I turn to my mother’s face,
her eyes spark in a way I’ve never known,
there’s something happening to her turkey dish
her fork caresses it
subtly.
I, meanwhile, search in my phone
if an email arrived
from that poetry award
that will offer me a one way ticket
or just a glimpse
of what I see in her eyes
each year.
Claudia Excaret Santos (@claudiaexcaret) is a Mexican English Major, poet, interpreter, and translator. Her first book translation, Child of Earth and Sky, by Menna Van Praag, is about to come out in 2024. She has volunteered over $41969 dlls through free translation work for non-profit organizations. She is a UNAM graduate student who founded La secta de los libros, a youtube channel promoting literature and offering academic advice. She grew up in Tecate, BCS, on the mexican border. She also founded Libros en el transporte over 6 years ago.
As a writer, she has been selected by the international Rio Grande Valley festival to have her poetry published in the printed anthology Boundless 2022, and Boundless 2024. She has also been selected as a poet for two years in a row by the international festival Primavera bonita, in Mexico City. Her poetry has been published in the digital magazine Fleas on the Dog, the UNAM magazine Punto de partida, the Blog Libropolis, Letralia, La poesía Alcanza, etc.
Daniel Hurtado (Michoacán, 1996) is a writer and cultural manager. He graduated with a degree in Spanish Language and Literatures from the Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo. His poems have been published in anthologies such as Entalpía: muestra de poesía (2022) and Los Conductos del fuego (2023).
