De La Luz

we were standing

on kitchen tile

when you said

fifty years arrived

to mock you

I swept red dust

toward the door

picked up bottle caps

you said no more

the mocking must

have gone out

for air—

absence echoes

in your ears

but not in mine

I archived your noise

between 1958 and

the porchlight outside

where you carved

the path I run on

to fly—

Fiorela Echano is a poet studying Creative Writing at USC. She likes whales, rain, and rock music.