My hand is a fixture under her
hound jaw; a biscuit
between my thumb
& bent finger,

                                                                                I help her tremulous teeth
                                                                                latch onto her daily bread

She has forgotten
how to be–
step for step
paw for paw                                                            Her automaton body,
                                                                                 a warm plot of flesh
                                                                                 propped atop flickering,
                                                                                 mechanical limbs, deaf to
                                                                                 her most fundamental instructions
She no longer recalls
how to pull shared meat
from her little brother’s teeth

Her bowl remains full,
water frozen thick &
when her biscuit scatters
across the floor,                                                

                                                                                 I try for something I know
                                                                                 she loves: half of a soft, corn tortilla        

Placed in front of her nose,
her jaw alone recalls the
stooping motion of capture

For every fallen shred,
I pick it up and place
them on the lax
dias of her tongue,                                                  for she cannot eat alone
                                                                                 despite the hunger
                                                                                 that rakes inside
                                                                                 her belly no more
                                                                                 than she can murmur
                                                                                 an eight o’clock farewell.

---

Lorena Maria (they/them) is a nonbinary, Latine poet and writer of the Guatemalan diaspora. Their work has been supported by SAFTA and Grubstreet and appears in the Orange Rose Literary Magazine, Touchstone (PSNH) and the Querencia Autumn Anthology (2025). Lorena presently serves as a poetry reader for Sabr Tooth Tiger Magazine and the Princemere Poetry prize. 

Insta: lmdotcom