latitude 47°

schizoid state of
                      parched east
and wet west
northernmost point of
                             raza migration

westside

brown faces slowly
bleach in gray
                   Seattle drizzles
pale winter suns
sip their color
bit by bit they
                   grow pale

then burn in
               one day’s summer
                                                eastside

                                                tejanos rooted in Yakima soil
                                                bake brown
                                                                in endless fields
                                                ties stretching
                                                                from valle to valle
                                                strengthened by
                                                sun and earth
west of the mountains

barrio bare
no urban scene feeds rural
roots weakened with
ceaseless washing

Seattle

brown eyes watch your
display of grays and
daydreams head east
                             and south

Brownsville
San Anto
El Paso
Cristal
Houston
Laredo

                                                Sunnyside

Yvonne Yarbro-Bejarano
May 15, 1976
Seattle

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From: Yvonne Yarbro-Bejarano, “latitude 47°,” in Metamórfosis 1:1 (1977): 4.