Gnashing Teeth Publishing

| words that get in your teeth

Rio Born by Roberto A Lopez

I am,
of that immigrant swash
which washed forth
onto the shore,
born of
the Big River.


Not quite the lore and roar
of the Mississippi,
but the hushed and thick brown
and mesquité green,
the wily horned-toad and
thorny cactus fiend,
fenced in with patrol dogs
and javelina hogs,
and palm trees and
American flags and
Mexican flags,
and people wanting—


I hear
accordion, banda,
Tucanes, watcha!
Oye! Migra! Mestizo!
I taste
bistec, aguacate, cilantro,
horchata,
I hear
hijo, mijo,
Coconut! Gringo!
I see,
towers,
tires, wire,
and children playing—


O’ how can you be
in and not of the seen?


We,
are too river to be border,
too border to be river,
a break between two
and yet connector, too.

~

Roberto Alejandro Lopez is a community outreach coordinator with the Texas Civil Rights Project. He is a native of the Rio Grande Valley and spends his days fighting border militarization complex. Roberto studied engineering at Cornell University, and once upon a time was a high school math teacher. Some days he sleeps too much, other days he writes.

Sarah White Joins Gnashing Teeth Publishing

We here at Gnashing Teeth Publishing are so excited to announce our newest team member – Sarah White. She joins us as a Social Media Intern. She’ll be working hard

shadow image of a man pushing a cart with a large wheel and small umbrella

Pushcart Prize Nominees for 2023

Gnashing Teeth Publishing is proud to submit the following poems for consideration of the Pushcart Prize. Each of these nominees had work published by us in 2023, whether online or

BOOK REVIEW: gossypiin by Ra Malika Imhotep

Roots, ancestors, bending limbs and time. Ra Malika Imhotep’s gossypiin is a harvest of the experiences and discussions of black women. The meaning of the title, like many of her

The Reflection by Nadia Nunez

What an obscurity energy there’s no serenity A smile is what you’ll never see All you’ll hear is “In memory” Not a single ring on the telephone All you see

connect

we love hearing from you. tell us everything