Five-Year-Old Child
by ROCÍO FRANCO
Monday:
Across the iron bridge,
Cookie Monster’s blue plush
smushes against your small frame.
The passing semis make the bridge wobble
and your mother holds on tighter.
Tuesday:
At the 21 Cermak bus stop, a red school bag
rests on your small back. You’ve slept
on a cold cot all night. The white man
next to you, the one with a warm apartment,
jeers with disgust, those migrants.
Wednesday:
The river under the iron bridge sparkles
in the winter sun. You skim pebbles across it,
and you giggle at the brief indentations
they leave in the water. Your eyes go wide
as they sink slowly to the bottom.
Thursday:
You shiver in the December wind.
Your Paw Patrol jacket, gloves,
and hat are barely enough.
You walk ahead of your father and mother—
you disappear around the corner.
5-year-old Jean Carlos Martinez died after falling ill while living in the temporary migrant shelter located in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood on Sunday, December 17, 2023.
Rocío Franco is a self-identified Chicana warrior poet from Chicago. She holds fellowships from The Watering Hole and Periplus Collective. The Frost Place, VONA, and Tin House have supported her work. She is a Best of the Net and Pushcart Prize nominee. Her poems have appeared in The Acentos Review, Lunch Ticket, L@tino Literatures Journal, AGNI, december magazine, Mom Egg Review, and others.