Aaron A. Abeyta

A graduate of the MFA program at Colorado State University and professor of English at Adams State College, Aaron A. Abeyta (b. 1971) is the author of Colcha (2001); As Orion Falls (2005); and Rise, Do Not Be Afraid (2007).

Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Tortilla

“Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Tortilla” is from Abeyta’s 2001 collection Colcha, which received an American Book Award and the Colorado Book Award.

i.

among twenty different tortillas

the only thing moving

was the mouth of the niño

ii.

i was of three cultures

5

like a tortilla

for which there are three bolios

iii.

the tortilla grew on the wooden table

it was a small part of the earth

iv.

a house and a tortilla

10

are one

a man a woman and a tortilla

are one

v.

i do not know which to prefer

the beauty of the red wall

15

or the beauty of the green wall

the tortilla fresh

or just after

vi.

tortillas filled the small kitchen

with ancient shadows

20

the shadow of Maclovia

cooking long ago

the tortilla

rolled from the shadow

the innate roundness

vii.

25

o thin viejos of chimayo

why do you imagine biscuits

do you not see how the tortilla

lives with the hands

of the women about you

viii.

30

i know soft corn

and beautiful inescapable sopapillas

but i know too

that the tortilla

has taught me what i know

ix.

35

when the tortilla is gone

it marks the end

of one of many tortillas

x.

at the sight of tortillas

browning on a black comal

40

even the pachucos of española

would cry out sharply

xi.

he rode over new mexico

in a pearl low rider

once he got a flat

45

in that he mistook

the shadow of his spare

for a tortilla

xii.

the abuelitas are moving

the tortilla must be baking

xiii.

50

it was cinco de mayo all year

it was warm

and it was going to get warmer

the tortilla sat

on the frijolito plate

(2001)