Freeway 280

Lorna Dee Cervantes (born 1954)

Las casitasSpanish for "the little houses" near the gray cannery,
nestled amid wild abrazosSpanish for "hugs, embraces" of climbing roses
and man-high red geraniums
are gone now. The freeway conceals itDo you think the speaker misses seeing the little houses? Is the freeway a positive or negative thing?
all beneath a raised scar.

But under the fake windsounds of the open lanes,
in the abandoned lots below, new grasses sprout,
wild mustard remembers, old gardens
come back stronger than they were,
trees have been left standing in their yards.
Albaricoqueros, cerezos, nogalesSpanish for "apricot, cherry, walnut trees" . . .
ViejitasSpanish for "old women" come here with paper bags to gather greens.
Espinaca, verdolagas, yerbabuenaSpanish for "spinach, purslane (a type of plant used in salads), mint" . . .

I scramble over the wire fence
that would have kept me out.
Once, I wanted out, wanted the rigid lanesWhat type of place did the speaker want to be taken to?
to take me to a place without sun,What type of place did the speaker want to be taken to?
without the smell of tomatoes burning
on swing shift in the greasy summer air.

Maybe it's hereWhat do you think Cervantes means here?
en los campos extraños de esta ciudadSpanish for "in the strange fields of this city"
where I'll find it, that part of meWhat do you think Cervantes means here?
mown under
like a corpse
or a loose seed.

Reprinted by permission of the publisher, Latin American Literary Review.