A Centennial for Herstory

Angela Acosta

I didn’t have to, but I remembered you.

Look, I learned a whole language just to

pronounce your name in Spanish, to read the stories

you left for us, to live the lives you couldn’t.

I translated your dreams back into English

and maybe along the way I found my own.

In other poems, in other places, I listed your names,

las poetisas, poets Carmen, Ernestina, Concha,

las artistas, artists Maruja, Josefina, Delhy,

I could go on, in step with the ebbs and flows

of avant-garde currents and poems by the ocean,

but here I sit and marvel at the passing of a century.