Quotes and Poem: Day 15

Quote:

"You will face many defeats in life, but never let yourself be defeated." -Maya Angelou

Poem:

My Father Sings, to My Embarrassment

BY SANDRA M. CASTILLO

at Las Villas, a small Carol City bar with a makeshift stage,

where he spends too much time drinking,

pretending he can learn to play the guitar at forty-five,

become a singer, a musician,

who writes about "Que Difícil Es...."

to live in Spanish in Miami,

a city yet to be translated,

in a restaurant where he has taken us for Cuban food,

where I sit, frozen, unable to make a sound,

where Mother smiles,

all her teeth exposed,

squeezes my hand,

where Mae and Mitzy hide

under the table shielding them from shame

with a blood-red tablecloth,

leaving my mother and me,

pale-faced, trapped by the spotlight shining in our eyes,

making it difficult for us to pretend

we do not know the man in the white suit

pointing to us.