Spring Street Station

Abstract

Spring Street Station Julio Marzán (bio) Maybe the former factory loftwhere I'll be reading poemsis where my mother took meby the hand up these stairs,then up a wooden elevatorto rows of women set to sew,threading a full day's spool,where some nice passing ladystroked her palm over my hair. Maybe between recited wordsmachine decibels will purr,my mother's glance leashingher child's wayward roamacross a field of tender eyesflirting with the curious boywandered off to see men boxpanties like his mother wore. Maybe from that industrial spacerenovated to manufacture art,at five my mother steered mearound torrential anxious bodies,countless homebound mothers,all, she explained, in a rushto hug their children like me,waiting in another woman's care. [End Page 21] Maybe I confuse that old addressbut not descending these stairsto ride standing the entire wayback to where windows deceivedin every six-o'clock womannot the perfection of mother,real in my hand as she rushed,coming for me down these stairs. [End Page 22] Julio Marzán Julio Marzán was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and, at the age of four months, brought to New York City, where he grew up and completed his studies, including a ba at Fordham University and an mfa at Columbia and New York Universities. He served on the governing board of Poets House and has published two poetry books, Translations without Originals (I. Reed Books, 1986) and Puerta de Tierra (Editorial U. P. R., 1998), as well as selections in college texts such as The Bedford Introduction to Literature, The Bedford Introduction to Poetry, and Latino Boom. His poems have been published in New Letters, Parnassus, Ploughshares, Tin House, 3 Quarks Daily, and Harper's Magazine, among others. His book The Glue Trap and Other Poems is forthcoming from Fernwood Press. Copyright © 2021 University of Nebraska Press