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  • Aunt Mirta, and: Infancia
  • Florencia Milito (bio)

Aunt Mirta

Caracas, 1979

Now she steals flowersfrom the neighbors’ gardens,waits until siesta timewhen they are asleep,hides them under her blouse,the thorns from the rosesprickle her skin,brush against her scars:exiled ex-revolutionary turnedsmall time thiefliving out her days underthe non-judgmental Caribbean sun,what the caption would readif there were one. [End Page 179]

Infancia

Of tropical plenitude, overgrown monte, wild banana plants and ferns, of the cobalt-blueveranda overlooking the monte, off-limits to kids, of legs dangling over the veranda,under pleated navy skirts or blue jeans on uniform days, of knees skinned from playingLa Ere on the asphalt, of the colorful margins we drew on our lined notebooks at thebeginning of the school year, of our drawings, palm trees and the bright, tropical sun, thesquiggly blue lines of the Caribbean, of a greying Sarita, beloved principal, trailblazingpioneer, her beautiful, sculpted face and vaguely patrician airs, who, in a flash of fury,once threw a shoe at clowning Valodia during math class, of Sarita again, the use of thediminutive in her nickname, which only enhanced her presence, who taught mesomething about the ways of the world by favoring my best friend Lisa for valedictorian,of the classroom teacher who stood up to Sarita that day because I, shy daughter ofimmigrants, had higher marks, of the fated fieldtrip to a local swimming pool, beyond thecemetery, only to find it overrun with tiny frogs after a tropical storm, of the deep purpleof the raspados, grape ices we bought from the math teacher at recess, of the forbiddenpencil drawings Leonora, the Chilean, also a daughter of exilados and a precociousstudent of human anatomy, sold to the boys for centimos, of the Venezuelan wordjamonearse, making out, whispered by the boys at recess, from jamón which means ham,of Valodia, the bad-boy with emerald eyes and my first crush, whose grandfather was apoet, whispering he was Superman and I Lois Lane. [End Page 180]

Florencia Milito
Argentina
Florencia Milito

Milito, Florencia was born in Argentina, and spent her early childhood in Venezuela; she has lived in the U.S. since she was nine. She is a bilingual poet, essayist and translator whose work has appeared in such publications as ZYZZYVA; Entremares Magazine; Sniper Logic; Znet en Español; the Indiana Review; Catamaran Literary Reader; and 20 años: Festival Internacional de Poesía de Rosario. She was a 2003 The Nation/Discovery Poetry Prize Semifinalist, a 2007 California Writers Exchange contest Finalist, the recipient of a 2007 Hedgebrook Foundation residency, and a reader at the 2011 Festival Internacional de Poesía de Rosario.

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