Daughter

A woman takes off her arms,
go ahead, look inside, she says.
Artemio peers inside,

ah, the lungs, the beating heart,
the stomach full of menudo,
and lower down, the womb.

He cranes his neck
and is able to see
out of her vagina.

He urges her
to put her arms back on.
She obliges.

It finally dawns on Artemio
that this is Candy Gamez.
Is this her revenge?

Why couldn’t she be
like most women,
and just demand child support?

She pushes Artemio’s daughter in his face.
His thirty-seven year old daughter
shuffles her feet like a little girl.

There is no way to make amends
short of going back in time,
and even the present is irretrievable.