He arrived to the steaming city with those eyes
you know those kind that have only seen palm trees, sunsets and poverty on his island
staring at the boatyard with a suitcase full of his best clothes and a heart ready to set sail on a journey through the alley ways of Baltimore
It was to his liking at first, finding friendships with those who spoke a familiar tongue as him
The Spanish crashing against the buildings like the winter rain until he found an unchanging season situated in the soul of a woman
A southern lamb who had wandered just a little too far from the farm, finding herself without focus in a world where lights stay on all night and families try and live off of pocket change
And somehow these two met, and talked, and fell in love but not sure if they fell into bed first
and I’m actually wondering if condoms were a thing back then because after back to back sessions it seemed that belly was tired of being meek and began swell like the world, taking a tour through the pregnancy
And then came the marriage, a catholic procession
With his black hair and caramel skin, he took the hand of this girl who looked like her world had just reached judgement day
Time passes and clothes begin to get looser and one day the impossible happens
She left…left him in an apartment in Baltimore. Left him alone without a woman to hold in bed after a long day of working at the yard. Left him before he had a chance to become a father to a lovely daughter who would eventually look like him in her old age. Taking away his strong Latino features but not being confined to country lines or customs
But here he stood with tears in the rain
Wondering if he would ever see his daughter, would he be able to teach her his native tongue
or watch a generation of interracial children form their own families from his first planted seed
So he wrote, and wrote and for awhile he got responses…But they stopped answering his questions,
constantly sending heart emojis in the mail only to discover that the message wasn’t able to be delivered so in return he sent a ripped marriage license in hopes of driving away the feeling
The feeling that his own flesh and blood would grow up without ever being able to say she knew her father.
The Nuclear Cottage 