here, the part that wanted you to stay
really stay, not like the time you met me
in Guadalajara and prattled on about
how every other restaurant would give you
Moctezuma’s curse

and there, the part that was smugly satisfied
when you got sick anyways
and retreated into every other Oxxo store
for salty crackers and foul-tasting Suero

and now, the part that wanted the real you
when you asked what I wanted for Christmas
instead of the slices of you I got on school field trips
and then, the part that resigned
and asked for my favorite bakery food instead

©

Kate Pashby (they/them) is a queer Mexican American poet from San Jose, California who resides in Washington, DC. Their work has been published in The Confessionalist Zine, Burrow, Rogue Agent, and Rabid Oak, the latter of which nominated Kate for Best of the Net 2020. Kate’s work is forthcoming in Northern Otter Press and Genre: Urban Arts’ House.