Bachata

JP Infante

photo credit: Oelania Rubino

During Mayor David Dinkins’ reign my pops brought home the bacon,
out hustling NYPD and making jewelry out of melted badges he gifted my moms.

Pops brought in the streets in the soles of his Timberlands
so moms mopped with Clorox, Fabuloso and sound.
She cleaned the sidewalks off our tiles with Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You.”
 
John Gotti’s arrest was an omen. A drought soon followed for 40 days and 40 nights.
Pops worked over time late nights doing Christ-work.
But instead of turning water into wine he turned laxative and procaine into cocaine,
selling “na con na” to know-nothings.
 
Giuliani became mayor and pops got home later and later.
Moms music changed to La India’s “Ese Hombre.”
Til one night pops never made it home.
 
Mom’s friend, a taxi driver, drove us to visit pops upstate while the radio played bachata.
During pop’s bid, mom’s music changed again.
Alex Bueno’s “Busca un Confidente” was on repeat.
 
And then a billionaire was elected mayor.
This was years after my pops was released and
long after my parents separated.
I was visiting my mom’s crib when a bachata song came on La Mega.
 
I told her bachata reminded me of her cleaning.
She said it reminded her of the taxi driver—
but then cut herself off with quiet
so we listened to the lyrics instead.

JP is a teacher and writer in New York City. He is the winner of the 2020 Thirty West Chapbook Contest and the PEN Dau Short Story Prize. He is an alum of the Borough of Manhattan Community College. His debut chapbook, On the Tip of Your Mother’s Tongue (Thirty West Publishing), is scheduled to be released in the Fall of 2020. @infantejp