My Mother as the Legs of a Mermaid

There are volcanoes on my mother’s legs

Years of exploration normalize them

One ruptures

She tries to outrun them like they did in Pompeii

The volcano leaves a valley in her leg

Like the remnants of a nuclear site

Taking the flesh behind

I see my mother in Colima as a little girl

Aware that her father is beating her mother at home

Her legs disappear into the water

She floats among the fish

Wishing she could swim to America

Instead she stares at el Volcán de Fuego

And wonders if it will eat her alive