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2023 Academy of American Poets Prize

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It’s The Way We Fall

by Andres F. Arevalo Zea

C'est l'histoire d'une société qui tombe, et qui au fur et à mesure de sa chute se répète sans cesse pour se rassurer My daughter’s name is Elizabeth. Just like that one Jane Austen character. I figured I wouldn’t find a more american name than one from some old British novel. This way she’ll be able to pass. They’ll know how to say her name They won’t think of her as less from the the moment they meet her. Even though Elizabeth has never met her mother, she took her last name instead of mine. Elizabeth Arevalo? No fucking way. That sounds disgusting. What would the doctors think? What would the teachers think? What would her friends think? What would the police think? What would her lovers think? What would the government think? Jusqu'ici tout va bien... In my wettest of dreams I don’t wake up with semen on my underwear but with green cards in my pockets. Por mis huevos mamá, por mis putos huevos mi hija va a nacer en gringolandia. No matter the debt, no matter what I had to do I swore Elizabeth would have h

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