YOLANDA CHAVEZ LEYVA
  • Home
  • Fierce Fronteriza Blog
  • Callegrafias Fronterizas
  • What I do
  • Publications
  • Comunidad
  • Connecting
  • Curriculum Vitae
  • South Central - Alameda Street
  • Untitled
  • Callegrafia
Fierce Fronteriza
Picture

The River

2/16/2017

1 Comment

 
Picture

“Saw client X fishing at the river this morning. Do not give the family any food this week.”  1933 notation by a county social worker, Travis County. File found in the attic of the agency, 1986.
 
 
The river flowed as it always did
The sun rose as it always had
In those sunrise times
She remembered walking together
Down a dirt road to the river
Cane fishing pole propped on her shoulder.
Walking slow so her grandma could keep up.
Her grandma taught her to dig the worms
In the evening
In the soft worked dirt of the flower bed
Put them in the rusty coffee can she
Kept under the warped wooden stairs
Put a little soil with them so they could
Survive the night.
Morning and evening are the best times
To fish her grandma said
When the catfish swim lazy at the bottom
Their big mouths opening and closing
Eating algae and tiny silver minnows.
When the crappies swim near the water’s edge
Hoping to catch a flying insect, a tiny speck of bread.
Throw the hook in softly her grandma said,
Gently so it floats down with the current
Natural like the leaves and pieces of twig
That she saw moving on the river’s surface.
Hold the pole like you are holding something delicate
Precious
So that any tug will bring your hands alive
But don’t pull it is too fast
Give that fish time to put its mouth
Around that worm
Then pull hard.
When you get that fish, treat it gentle.
Once she remembered that she caught a
Different fish
The size of a perch but instead of the
Rainbow color it was black with white
Dots and her grandma said it was a good sign.
That morning she woke up remembering her grandma
So she headed to the river to fish
As the sun came up on the eastern horizon.
She was looking forward to a dinner of fried fish.
When that white man who worked for county
Welfare drove by, she smiled and waved.

1 Comment
bestessays com review link
8/9/2017 09:04:52 pm

A good poem to consider and this will surely be a good motivator in life. A reading that will help the children to know more about the beauty of nature and to appreciate the wonders of life. The river has many good things to offer and we need to use those things as a major resource as well. Thank you for all of the words that were used in this reading. I will apply them to my life. I will not neglect them.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    September 2019
    August 2019
    November 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017

    Categories

    All

Picture
My father used to tell me about sneaking into this theater to watch movies as a kid in the 1910s. It showed Spanish language films. In the 1940s, it was transformed into a "whites only" theater but that didn't last long. By the 1950s, it was headquarters to the Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers Union, a radical labor organization. Before it closed, it housed the Mine and Mill Bar.
Picture
Picture
This message is painted on the east side of the old Mission movie theater.
Picture
The bell tower of Guardian Angel Catholic Church, built in the 1910s to serve the growing Mexican immigrant community in what was then the "east side" of El Paso.
Picture
This pinata shop caught my attention as I was driving west on Alameda Street on my way to work.
Picture
Hawaiian dancer, Alameda Street.
Picture
Unicorn pinata on Alameda Street.
Picture
Proud graduate pinata.
Picture
Love message on the east side exterior wall of the old Mission Theater.

Segundo Barrio
Father Rahm Street
​July 2022

Picture
Looking into Padre Pinto Plaza, Sagrado Corazon Catholic Church.
Picture
Treasures on the window sill.
Picture
La bici
Picture
Tres vatos.
Picture
Esperando el bus.
Picture
Two generations.

 La Virgensita en la frontera
Picture
Woman reflected on la Virgencita, Segundo Barrio, 2021.
Picture
La Virgen de Guadalupe, 12 de diciembre 2017, Centro de Trabajadores Agricolas, El Paso
Picture
Protecting Barrio Duranguito 2019

 Cd Juarez downtown
​December 2017
Picture
Raramuri father and son musicians, downtown Juarez, 2017.
Picture
The smell of copal, downtown Juarez, December 2017.
Picture
Ciudad Juarez limpia, downtown, December 2017.
Picture
Selling at the mercado, downtown Juarez, December 2017
Picture
Telcel payaso, downtown Juarez, December 2017


 La Mariscal, Ciudad Juarez, 2017

Picture
Dos perros, La Mariscal, December 2017
Picture
Mujer con cabello verde, La Mariscal, Juarez, December 2017.
Picture
Beautiful death, La Mariscal, Ciudad Juarez, December 2017.
Picture
Tin Tan, La Mariscal, Ciudad Juarez, December 2017.
 
Montana Vista 2019
Picture
Red high heels in the desert 2019
 El Centro July 2022
Picture
A tree reaches out to Oscar Zeta Acosta (mural by Lxs Dos), El Paso, Texas July 2022
  • Home
  • Fierce Fronteriza Blog
  • Callegrafias Fronterizas
  • What I do
  • Publications
  • Comunidad
  • Connecting
  • Curriculum Vitae
  • South Central - Alameda Street
  • Untitled
  • Callegrafia