Bronx, NY (1847-Present)
From this cottage,
where he heard
his young cousin
bride, Virginia
(our Annabel Lee), fight
her own lungs to draw
one last clean country breath,
you can hear screaming
children wrestling
under red and green
monkey bars, or the murmur
of The Ortiz Funeral Home
waiting across the street.
Image: David Goehring
Li Yun Alvarado
Li Yun Alvarado is the author of the chapbooks Words or Water and
Nuyorico, CA. A poet and scholar, her work has appeared in Wise Latinas:
Writers on Higher Education; The Acentos Review; PMS Poemmemoirstory;
and Cura: A Literary Magazine of Art and Action, among others. She has
served as the Senior Poetry Editor for Kweli Journal and is an alumna
of VONA/Voices Writing Workshop and AROHO. Li Yun is a native
New Yorker living in Long Beach, California who takes frequent trips
to Salinas, Puerto Rico to visit la familia. www.liyunalvarado.com
