Sopes

For The Juice: Cook (1) Tomato, And (3) Green Tomatoes. Once Cooked Put Them In Blender. Add (1) Garlic Clove, Black Pepper, Cumin, Oregano And (1) Chicken Bouillon

For The Meat: In A Skillet Cook Ground Beef With (1) Can Of Salsa De Pato (Note To Self: Or You Can Use (1) Can Of Tomato Sauce If You Don’t Have Salsa De Pato), Add Half A Bag Of Mixed Vegetables (Peas, Carrots And Corn) And Add Chicken Bouillon. (Cook For 30 Minutes). Chop Lettuce, Slice Tomatoes And Slice Onions. Fry The Sopes. Once Cooked Put Beans, Meat, Lettuce, Tomatoes, Onions And Juice.

*note: hover your cursor over the text as you read

los angeles

the next time you cook with grandma nena,
you should document her cooking
so that we can learn, too

while we cook sopes,
her music plays in the other room
juan gabriel gets the most rotations.

when i ask for the recipe she writes
espero que le entiendas
por que no se escrvir*
/
"i hope that you understand me
because I don't know how to transcribe* this"

even with the limits of my spanish, I know she means,
"i can not really* transcribe this*,"
instead of,
"i can't write"

what comes with and lies beyond techne, or craft,
can I attend to what can't be captured

Hands with arthritis from her labor—
she forms a circle within a circle
using a servillete from Colima,
this formation helps with structure and setting a boundary
within the circle

The servillete fabric has cross-stitchings
that have begun to undo.
yet you could still read imprints over time

colima

43 years later, when family immigrated.
i return to Colima again,
with tia martha, who never left
going back. how far can i go back?
first cafe con pan

the root of the word company, comes from
com, means "with, together;"
and panis, "bread;" from root *pa-, "to feed."

more servilletes and photographs from
mama genia,
fragments of the past
distant relatives in company con pan

an immigrant science

As a concern to President Porfirio Díaz to "modernize" Mexico,
he was convinced that white pants from Colima, known as
calzon de manta, worn by indigenous people and ranchers was a sign
of economic and social backwardness.

So an order was put out in 1887, with terms such as:
"a proof of civilization,"
"morality, progress and culture be given,"

tia martha recalls our past,
thinking about papa pancho
his other language, indigenous; his garment, ranchero
He always wore a denim jacket and his pants
calzon de manta
illegible by state identification.

In response to Theresa Hak Kyung Cha's work, Soyoung Yoon describes the "disavowal of the single, still frame"
through what Freud defines as "the narcissism of small differences" —differences amongst the closely related that works to bind our identities.
An immigrant science where my tongue speaks from the position of "I: and "I"s other,
I try to capture what is now foreign and what can not be transcribed.

xx