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The Gulf, 1987

By Deborah Paredez Deborah Paredez

The day upturned, flooded with sunlight, not

a single cloud. I squint into the glare,

cautious even then of bright emptiness.

We sit under shade, Tía Lucia

showing me how white folks dine, the high life.

I am about to try my first oyster,

Tía spending her winnings from the slots

on a whole dozen, the glistening valves

wet and private as a cheek’s other side,

broken open before us. Don’t be shy.

Take it all in at once. Flesh and sea grit,

sweet meat and brine, a taste I must acquire.

In every split shell, the coast’s silhouette:

bodies floating in what was once their home.

Source: Poetry (September 2012).

Biography

Deborah Paredez is the author of the poetry collection, This Side of Skin (2002) and the critical study, Selenidad: Selena, Latinos, and the Performance of Memory (2009). Her poems have appeared in Poetry, Callaloo, Crab Orchard Review, Mandorla, Palabra, Poet Lore and elsewhere. Her honors include an Alfredo Cisneros del Moral Foundation Award and residencies from the Vermont Studio Center and Hedgebrook. Paredez is the . . .

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