en or 

to her damp breast 

Lings. 

tract 

:ertile 

22 

Rosalinda Leyva 

A Time to Watch 

2008 Lester M. Wolfson 2nd Place Poetry 

My grandfather is nearly blind. 

Walks with his hands extended 
in front of him, tries not 
to run into something that has 
been in the same place 
for forty years, like the china 
cabinet stacked 

with cantaritos and coma/es. 

His walking stick hits a shoe 
box filled with plastic forks 
from restaurants. "Que es eso?" 
"Tenedores." I answer. He laughs 
for the first time in days. He 

walks outside with leftovers and 

I watch him feed rice and empanada crumbs 
to starving birds and stray cats. I 
think he does it searching for something. 

Life-
Hope-

Peace-

I don' t know, but I need my grandfather 

like he needs the birds. 

23