DREAMS OF RAIN

ADRIANA

California, 2015

Nothing but dust

where endless vegetable fields

used to grow.

Unemployed laborers struggle to pay

for their lunches, here at Papi’s restaurant,

where I help in the kitchen during summer vacation,

making pupusas so that Central Americans

will feel at home.

One more rainless winter will put us

out of business, just like my great-grandpa

in the last century, when farms without water

turned to dust, and instead of going back

to Mexico, he grew creative,

and started

experimenting

with recipes.

•

I’m already halfway through college,

and even though the rest will take hard work,

I’ll manage, because sooner or later

there will surely be

rain clouds in the sky,

pouring out water

for rivers

of growth.