Bait
You are thinking about Spiderman
And Mama’s pan de yuca,
But there is no cassava here, only
Broccoli with worms and greenish water,
And you wish you were Spiderman. You would
Catch all the bad guys in your web
And let all the children and daddies go free.
You were thinking about Spiderman
And pulling down the tassles on your
Bunny hat to make the ears flap up when
The car door opened before the engine had stopped
And Daddy shouted WHAT THE HELL
As two thick white hands
Smelling of stale coffee and gunpowder
Unclasped the buckle at your crotch
And pulled you from your car seat,
And the hands were attached to a man
Whose face was covered up to his eyes, which
Sparkled with loathing, his middle fat
With thick vest and bristling black weapons,
And he stood you on the driveway
And pulled your arms through the straps of your
Spiderman backpack
And there were more men who looked just the same,
Who smelled just the same,
And he steered you by your backpack like
You were a Big Wheel trike,
Toward the side door of your house,
And he said KNOCK, CALL FOR YOUR MAMA,
SAY LET ME IN.
And you feared the man and obeyed, you knocked,
And you called out DÉJAME ETRAR
But you quietly prayed to the Virgin
Please tell Mama not to open the door. Tell her
The bad guys are here.
You had seen these men outside your school with their
Mirror-window cars and their spider goggles and
Their guns and their silver cuffs that they snapped
Onto Daddy’s wrists behind his back while
Daddy shouted to Mama NO ABRAS LA PUERTA,
The man holding your backpack
Like a dog’s leash
KNOCK, said the man again,
And you knocked again, don’t open it, mama, don’t,
And your stomach hurt,
And the man with the cuffs
Pushed Daddy shouting into the dark car,
¡NO
ABRAS LA PUERTA! Daddy
Swearing, saying HE’S ONLY FIVE; LEAVE HIM BE.
While you and the man waited for Mama
And your cheeks stung in the frigid wind.
And thank the Virgin, Mama didn’t open the door
And at last the man said
I GUESS YOUR MAMA DOESN’T CARE.
And you were tossed into the dark car next to Daddy, who
Couldn’t sit up straight with his hands cuffed behind his
back,
And there was no car seat for you.
As the car pealed away from the curb
You fell off the seat and cried on the floor.
And they put you on an airplane, you and Daddy,
To somplace where the air outside
Doesn’t sting your cheeks,
Push you into a metal house
Full of boys and men who smell bad,
With one potty up against a wall,
And you have to go potty, but
There is no door on the potty, so you cry,
And part of the crying is having to go potty,
And part is relief because
Mama didn’t answer the door
And is not here with you and Daddy in this
stinking, crowded metal place
And now your pants are wet,
And there are no clean pants to change into,
But at least Mama is still at home.
At least she’s safe. At least she’s safe.
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