K-Mart, San Antonio, Texas, 1986

For Rubén 

When I can take you to the K-Mart
on South Santa Rosa at sunset, 
and say, Meet me over by the flip-flops, 
I’ve got to get me some socks.

When I can toss in the shopping cart 
my tampons next to your Tres Flores 
hair oil, my microwave popcorn, your 
pack of white tees, my San Martín 
de Porres three-day candle.

When we have finished paying
and can sit in the parking lot
satisfied, you and I,
with nachos and an Icee.

Then we can marvel
at a thousand black wings
swooping against the downtown sky.
Urracas urracando in the trembling trees.


From Woman Without Shame by Sandra Cisneros, to be published by Knopf on September 13, 2022.

This poem originally appeared in the September 2022 issue of Texas Monthly. Subscribe today.