Editor’s note: This is a creative piece. The views in this piece do not necessarily reflect those of the 14 East editorial staff.

Listen to Julian Martinez read his poem Ode to Mecano’s Descanso Dominical

During my pre-teen phase, when I couldn’t stop sobbing

at the sensation of sunlight every day in the backseat, mumbling

to ask why anything had to die if the cars would keep running, my mom

would skip to a random song on that album and turn to me for a moment,

our brown eyes like notes in a cool guitar chord. She’d ask me

what my favorite lyric from that song was and why. I’d have to stop

and breathe, slow my shaking hands to maracas, smile at the dust

in the air for its dance beyond our comprehension. We would listen.

Listen to this week’s episode of Platica con Pueblo where Richie Requena and Julian Martinez talk about Ode to Mecano’s Descanso Dominical

Header image by Jenni Holtz