Flamante Paradigma / Splendid Paradigm

At age twelve they said you were too pretty, long hair, too long.
Your mouth curved, gave, accepted

Now wishing I could have known you then, a girl of twelve
free of the weight of children, a husband to bear

Those flowers in your hair-
now wishing I could give them back to you

You, full of your own beauty-
small, frail girl, growing into woman.

Felicia Gonzalez. Since coming to the United States from Cuba in 1971, I've been exploring the impact growing up on an island and then being transplanted to a seemingly endless continent has on one's cognitive make up, and its effect on the rhythm that is the source of poetic instinct. Currently I am working on a series of poems which explore the notions of travel and traveler, whether the contemporary commuter train or the delirium of the ancient cartographers.