La Tortillera, by Richard Garcia

La Tortillera, by Diego Rivera (Mexico) 1926.

La Tortillera 

Standing in the gallery,
remembering--tortillitas
para Juan, tortillitas para Juan--
remembering and smiling.
The docent is amused
and gives me a print
of the painting.
I think of it
as a portrait
of you, on
your knees before
the metate,
just a child cooking
for a family.
Pat-pat, pat-pat,
tortillitas para Juan,
tortillitas para Juan,
masa becomes tortillas
between my mother’s hands.

Richard Garcia

Richard Garcia's poetry books include The Other Odyssey, Dream Horse Press, 2014, The Chair, BOA 2015, and Porridge, Press 53, 2016. His poems have appeared in many journals and anthologies. He has won a Pushcart prize and has been in Best American Poetry. He lives in Charleston, S.C.