Amblyopia

By ANANDA LIMA

I close my right eye meu olho direito
and see everything tudo                    que
my mother my father meus pais              no meu país    
didn’t                                                              
know                                                            não sabiam 
to do                                                tudo
            then                               que fazer?
                                                                      e hoje, minha vista cansada

not a matter of laziness
the doctor says
it’s more                                          mais mas
of a suppression
a lack                                              falta
of focus                                                foco
think of the right                     esquerda- 
eye as a bully                                       esquerda-
think of the left                                                          esquerdadireita
eye as too weak to fight                                                                      esquerda
think of the two eyes                                                                            eu eu
unable to work right                                                  trabalho escrita
together and I               eu
was left                                                                             fui deixada
grown done                                                               criança crescida
with the plasticity
  of a body that is still                                                              quieta no meu lugar
     building 
       a give said                                                                        dita
            not to last                                                                                            dura
                 and I was left                                               e eu fui embora
                               with the speckled super 8
                                    the grainy film the faint dark
                                            surface of an old mirror

Ananda Lima‘s work has appeared or is forthcoming in The American Poetry Review, Poets.org, Kenyon Review Online, Gulf Coast, Colorado Review, Poet Lore, jubilat, and elsewhere. She has an MA in linguistics from UCLA and an MFA in creative writing in fiction from Rutgers University–Newark. Her poetry micro-chapbook, Amblyopia, will be published by Bull City Press in winter 2020. Her poetry chapbook, Translation, won the 2018 Vella Chapbook prize. Her fiction chapbook, Tropicália, won the 2020 Newfound Prose Prize.

[Purchase Issue 20 here.]

From the beginning, The Common has brought you transportive writing and exciting new voices. We are committed to supporting writers and maintaining free, unrestricted access to our website, but we can’t do it without you. Become an integral part of our global community of readers and writers by donating today. No amount is too small. Thank you!

Amblyopia

Related Posts

A photograph of leaves and berries

Ode to Mitski 

WILLIAM FARGASON
while driving today     to pick up groceries / I drive over     the bridge where it would be  / so easy to drive     right off     the water  / a blanket to lay over     my head     its fevers  / I do want to live     most days     but today / I don’t     I could     let go of the wheel  

The Month When I Watch Joker Every Day

ERICA DAWSON
This is a fundamental memory. / The signs pointing to doing something right / and failing. Educated and I lost / my job. Bipolar and I cannot lose / my mind. The first responder says I’m safe. / Joaquin Phoenix is in the hospital. / I’m in my bedroom where I’ve tacked a sheet...

Image of glasses atop a black hat

Kaymoor, West Virginia

G. C. WALDREP
According to rule. The terrible safeguard / of the text when placed against the granite / ledge into which our industry inscribed / itself. We were prying choice from the jaws / of poverty, from the laws of poverty. / But what came out was exile.