Luis Lopez-Maldonado
I am made of water Soy agua fresca agua caliente ardiente agua that feeds the dry
dry deserts, floods the pebbled roads in Michoacán Mejico, I am the tamarindo and tequila too, the dangerous homosexual-illegal the news warned you about: I am feminist approved 
though I don’t need nobody’s approval because this xicanx boi spreads gender like teeth like pomegranates like ocean like glitter, like curving into the morning como una almendra, spreads love as if 45 isn’t deporting his people as if cops aren’t killing our people as if history books aren’t erasing our people, as if Frida was still alive.
LUIS LOPEZ-MALDONADO is a Xicanx poeta, playwright, dancer, choreographer, and educator. He/Him/They/Them have two forthcoming books titled, Gay Poetics of the Passion, from FlowerSong Press (2024), and Mexican Bird, from Querencia Press (2024). His/Their work has been seen in The American Poetry Review, Foglifter, Public Pool, and Latina Outsiders: Remaking Latina Identity, among many others. They earned a Master of Arts degree in Dance from Florida State University, and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing from the University of Notre Dame. He/They are currently adding glitter to the Land of Enchantment, working for the public education system as a high school Bilingual Educator and Special Education Teacher.
Art: “Vocal” by Michael Moreth
Gouache on paper