VERGE
After Jericho Brown
——Xochimilco: field of flowers in Nahuatl
by Eric Odynocki
I watch, moved, as my heritage appears
in the green canals of Xochimilco.
In the green waters of Xochimilco,
the trajinera slides by chinampas.
Ancestors’ canoes slid by chinampas:
floating gardens of dahlias and palms.
Ducks float along dahlias and palms.
Axolotl grin in the rippling depths.
Now, fewer axolotl grin in the depths.
Invasive fish crowd the drying waters.
Invasive crowds build homes, drain the waters.
Experts warn we will lose it all someday.
I fear when we will lose it all someday,
Watch, unmoved, as our heritage disappears.
Eric Odynocki is a first-generation American writer whose parents come from Mexico and Ukraine. Eric’s work has been nominated for Best Small Fictions and has appeared in Jabberwock Review, The Brooklyn Review, PANK, and elsewhere. When not teaching Spanish or Italian, Eric is an MFA student at Stony Brook Southampton.