jLópez
Juniper + D
Nina in Montreal🇨🇦
"Red or Green? Rojo o Verde?"
The scorching desert sun had set behind the Sandias when my flight landed in Albuquerque. After D picked me up from the airport we drove to our usual late night joint, Frontier Diner on Route 66.
At the counter I was asked the state question: “Red or Green?”.
Christmas in Albuqueque, the pairing of red and green enchiladas—was something I grew up helping mom prepare red enchiladas de papa y zhannahoria and green chicken enchiladas de pollo.
Behind Delilah my eyes drifted to a familiar face: a large canvas painting of the iconic John Wayne.
Father loved to watch movies set in the days of the “Wild West”— where cowboys and Indians traced the rugged landscapes of the Southwest.
This wasn't my first time embracing the dry heat of the Southwest. Several times, we traveled as a family from Chicago to the state of Michoacán in Mexico.
As a family we crossed the states en route to the land we call home, two days to reach the border crossing at Nuevo Laredo, and one more day to cross the sierra and finally reach our destination.
El depa de Berkeley- Summer 2023
At the cusp where North Oakland meets Berkeley stood a pastel, peachy-pink shoe box of a building. Its pink stucco walls reminded me of the house that held my earliest memories in Mexico— the home where my father eventually retired. That whimsical Dingbat apartment on King Street became my home during the summer of 2023.
La Loma
12/2023
Le pedí que me llevara hasta lo más alto del rancho
Hasta la cima de la sierra, donde se cosecha camote y vive el Pochote
Dejamos atrás las calles pavimentadas de cemento
para entrar a los pulmones de los cerros
Saludamos a los ejidos, las cabañas de madera y casas moldeadas en adobe
Tierra rocosa, color canela
El Jeep dio paso a senderos desconocidos,
Con cada paso dejando huellas en el las curvas angosto
Al llegar a la loma, el sol mañanero se estiraba detrás de los cerros
Se quedó mirando en silencio y me preguntó “En qué estará pensando?”
Desde allí se podía ver nuestros vecinos
