The Annual Hometown Fiesta Weekends Always Had More In Store Than I Bargained For Poem by Oscar Mireles

It was only
a three second glance
from a former Mexican girlfriend
who when her husband noticed
she was focused on something else
besides him
she nonchalantly
grabbed his hand to remind him
that she was all his

this would happen
at least a couple of times
over the Mexican Fiesta weekends
I would organize in my hometown
beer, Mexican food, Mariachi and Tex-Mex music
softball, an outdoor Catholic mass
and seeing former lovers
who have moved on

when I was sixteen
I had fumbled most of the relationships I was in
and didn’t know what to do
whether to just stand there
lick my wounds
or to pick them up
and start to run again

it was just a short smile
another ex-girlfriend gave me
later that weekend
warning that our teenage memories
that were once hotly shared
for now
will stay
cornered like an old photograph
and placed neatly
in a box
next to my other
misplaced memories