The American Dream Is a Tree
“All Seeing Eye” by Aleksandra Chechel
Have I told you about my abuelo’s loyal guava tree? The stubborn brute, barren for years, my abuelo impatient for flesh, departing. How it waited for his return while he spilled a life trespassing into treacherous immensity. How the tree still stood after years of solitude, its bulbous fruit, now consistent. Even it knew, the promise of sweetness would not fill an empty stomach. The way it reaches out and gives and gives and gives. I wonder if when my ancestors came here, and saw the plentiful expanse, they thought of their children and the starved emptiness, their reaching hands. Words swallowed by time, their tongues, unforgiving. I wonder if they thought of the tree when they planted roots in new soils. Some days I feel myself absorbing the rooms I walk in. I feel my existence eating away at space. Then, I remember my abuelo, his hands blackened with the soot of history, his silence, his ghostly stories haunting him in present time. I think about all the times he craved things not meant for him, things even in this piggish world, live, swollen, exquisite things. Every now and then, I think of his hunger when I indulge in filling.
About the Author
Originally from Jalisco, Mexico, Angelica Mercado-Ford has received national recognition for her art and poetry. Focusing on stories of womanhood, migration, cultural awareness, and belonging, Mercado-Ford's work has appeared in Cream City Review, Acentos Review, Roanoke Review, and Glass Poetry Press, among others. She is the author of a poetry collection, TODO REVOLUCIONA. Mercado-Ford is a Waterers Future Building Fellow. She currently resides in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
About the artist
Russian-born and Brooklyn-based, Aleksandra Chechel seeks to express her love for nature through acrylic. Aleksandra’s inspiration combines natural, cosmic and psychedelic patterns to create deeply colorful scenes. A rich background in Architectural Design and classical art serves as a foundation for her work.