Author: J.Mar

I was born and raised in Kern County in an unincorporated area of Kern, CA. My parents moved there in the 90s to make a living as farm workers. Watching them barter their bodies, homelands, and family for a chance at the “American Dream” has caused me to reflect. My writing here is largely the unceremonious unpacking and repacking of what was won and lost in this exchange. My version of the dream consists of completing a PhD in Public Policy. I currently study public finance, public participation, and remittances in Mexico. I am also generally interested in the Latinx public finance experience. I’ve learned to be cautiously optimistic about the future. Lastly, I love plants and cleaning is a freeing ritual to me.

Rotten Fruit

From the fruit

We grow

Based on the labor that

churned the dirt

***

Our roots were transplanted from a faraway land

We fell to the ground and became seeds in the sand

From the seeds

We took heart

Growing from the love and pain that vines intrinsically impart

***

We grew in the rain

We grew in the wildfires

that leaves a dryness

in the summer dark

***

The fruit said

Be grateful

I gave you life

Then disappeared

Turned to gray dust

***

The fruit had grown rotten

But not before

It stamped us as

awful spring pollen

***

But we were blossoms

and the fruit

was the autumn

ready to take

our leaves

away

***

As it did to our parents

Whose dreams

It betrayed

J.Mar