"First Cumbia" by Tatiana Chaterji

Lake Berryessa, azure at our backs the man from Toluca slips me
lozenges from under his tongue Spanish alive in my mouth

touches the screen reaching deep lights from his phone plays me
my first cumbia: chee chih chih

woodsmoke unfurls decomposed flesh dusted bones awakening
at his cue turning slight curving threaded magnets loop

khee ki-ki khee ki-ki khee ki-ki each scratch of rake pulling me
into the earth thrumming his hand at my hip la guira’s song

tethered ancient spine’s pulse hungry, touch the heart of before
knowing how to fly, certain feathered tz sts sts tz

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Tatiana Chaterji called us from unceded Ohlone land in Oakland, CA.

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