In My Perfect Puerto Rico
My gray mother would be
Combing her mother’s white hair
On their turquoise painted porch
Under mango trees
Among hummingbirds
My black grandfather
In the next rocking chair
Happily looking on
My four-foot-eight cousin Sonia
Would be out back
In a wooden shack
Washing clothes
Or running in the garden
Tending to her dogs
She wouldn’t walk with a limp
Wouldn’t be sick
She’d have working kidneys
She’d live past thirty
My father would be hunting
All over this side of the island
With his best friend Angel Rodriguez
For reusable items
Dumped on the lush country side
They would be recycling pioneers
I would have a choice
Of which cousin to visit
We would still be young
And beautiful
Yolanda
Lili
Wanda
Evelyn
Ivelis
Hilly
We would still be together
And not just old scattered pieces
Of what we once were
© Nancy Mercado. Published by permission in Centro Voices on 10 April 2015.