TRINITY
by Rocío Franco
Planes thunder through the sky
ready to descend into an airport
congested with haste.
Cicadas chirp dissonance
amongst cultivated
branches and leaves.
I sit on my front porch with a novel
cemented into sweltered hands.
My block is hot to the touch,
and neighbors move languidly
against the sunset. A father
walks past with his adult son.
Their arms are linked as they step gently
against the sidewalk. I lay my paperback down;
Fiction on a page can’t eclipse
the weight of this recognition.
My imagination furthers a narrative
beyond their evening stroll.
All the simplicities they’ll make grand
because of pure affection. Maybe they’ll eat
dinner with a soft appreciation as their background.
Turn on their television and find
peace on a shallow screen. Finally,
going to bed just to rise and repeat.
Twenty years ago, I wouldn’t have
noticed this intimacy or yearned
for an effortless routine.
Now, these holy moments
teach me patience
and how to witness.
Rocío Franco is a Chicana warrior poet from Chicago who holds fellowships from The Watering Hole, Periplus Collective, and others. Her work has been supported by Jericho Brown’s advanced workshop at The Lighthouse, VONA, and Tin House’s Summer Workshop. She is a Best of the Net and Pushcart Prize nominee. Her poems have appeared in The Acentos Review, the Exposition Review, Lunch Ticket, and others. She works full-time as a health insurance counselor at a union health fund and approaches the world with a social justice lens.