Current
Issue
Volume 12.2
Silvia Bonilla
—
Fifteen
I.
I wanted damp
like earth
with fresh rain upon it.
I was scared
to exude my body,
I thought I’ll be a leaf
on a birch, so I’ll know
of being briefly green.
I dreamt permanence sometimes.
When I dreamt, the tree
having sweet plums.
II.
On my walk to school, golden dewdrops flowers.
My breasts sketched under the light
blue fabric of the uniform.
Men looked, their eyes expectant
as if I’d given them a raffle ticket. My parents lived
in New York. It would’ve been too long of a letter.
They said next year for our papers.
Went to the consulate. I walked to school
alone. My hair just washed,
III.
I was a boy’s fantasy on white chalk.
IV.
The heart acts
like a lamp
casts light
on a vision
a boy with warrior eyes
his belly in the white
pages of my notebooks.
A mind fools itself
with a story
a theme of distance,
sounds from the apple of his throat.
Silvia Bonilla is the author of City of Eves, Arizona University 2026. And the chapbook An animal startled by the Mechanims of Life. Deadly Chaps 2014. She has received support from Kenyon Worshop, Community of Writers, Swanee Writeer workshop, among others.
