Mama's Promised Land

Impressions Volume 51 Poetry Award Winner

When I step off the plane into this alien place
I hold my breath in fear it will escape
Into the cold and take my soul with it.

The concrete giants looming above me do not match
My father’s tales of glittering gold streets
And infinite fountains of health and prosperity.

Instead, skeptical eyes spectate and scrutinize
Every move I make, alone and naked and
Shivering under their bitter gaze.

Strangers pass, weary of my inked skin
The scent of mangoes and the
Warmth of the sun that lingers in my eyes.

When my arms reach out to feel
The touch of another I am met
With bared teeth and gloved hands,

Swatted away like the pest I am,
Unworthy of the journey to the
Promised Land God has gifted me.

I miss the mischief of the marmosets
The sound of rain on a tan tile roof
And the sway of the samba

Cigar smoke and midnight coffee and
Cicero’s secure arms, like Christ the Redeemer
Ready and waiting for me to come home

Marciano’s celestial smile the day
He leapt off the Earth into the sky
To join the stars.

But every now and then I see my father,
Beaming up at me, with tears in his eyes,
And his joy restores mine.

I am renewed in his image.