El Jimador

Medicine
best taken with
water, mineral or
on ice
sometimes,
Margaritas
2 for 1.


Don't do a shot,
drink it slow
sip it,
smell the earth it came from,
seven years to grow el agave
harvested by el jimador de Jalisco.

Taste your medicine,
discover the aroma of
vanilla and cinnamon
mixed with sweat and sun.

Sip it or slam it if you must,
she will become part of you
seep into your blood
root herself in you
like Mexico,
running through your veins.


—Teresa Puente


Teresa Puente is a Professor of Journalism at Columbia College in Chicago. Ms. Puente also encourages Latina women to write and publish their stories in Latina Voices. El Jimador first appeared in Take Two: Another Anthology of English Writing from the Costalegre. The art accompanying this poem is El Jimador by Russell Rosander.