3. DE ESPAÑOL Y MESTIZA PRODUCE CASTIZA

How not to see

in this gesture

the mind

of the colony?

In the mother’s arms,

the child, hinged

at her womb—

dark cradle

of mixed blood

(call it Mexico)

turns toward the father,

reaching to him

as if back to Spain,

to the promise of blood

alchemy - three easy steps

to purity;

from a Spaniard and an Indian,

a mestizo;

from a mestizo and a Spaniard,

a Spaniard.

from a castizo and a Spaniard,

a Spaniard.

We see her here—

one generation away—

nearly slipping

her mother’s careful grip.

Natasha Trethewey, Thrall: Poems

First Mariner Books, edition 2015