Andy Sanchez - Earning A Seat At The Table

Redefining Family

In our first episode, we meet Andy Sanchez, a Mexican immigrant and author, who shares about his journey and how he had to redefine his definition of family as an LGBTQ individual.

About Andy Sanchez

Andres, they/he is a Mexican poet, author of, This Body. He migrated to the U.S. at the age of 5 and grew up in Southern California and Las Vegas, NV. Andrés moved to Los Angeles, California 7 years ago. It was here that he began to get involved with the poetry community. In October 2018, Andrés was accepted into the Community Literature Initiative Program (CLI), and became a participant in the 6th cohort of students. His book, This Body was released on December 16, 2020 and remains on the popular list on the World Stage Press website (www.worldstagepress.org). Andres now teaches for CLI and will proudly see his first cohort of students complete the program in June 2021.
Earning a Seat at the Table
I always wanted to be invited to the table.
Mothers putting their hands in masa.
Fingertips tender from holding the stems
of chiles and turning tomatillos for salsa verde
that I enjoyed as a child.
As I coughed through the fumes,
my mom would say “vete a jugar”—lgo play.
Women bonding, meal prepping
over the heat off a four burner stove.
Laughing and sipping on cerveza in between breaks
to wipe the sweat from their forehead and upper lip.
Listening to their conversations
was wisdom wrapped in corn leaves
savory and spicy, meaty and fruity.
All a good balance for how
to stay strong amongst the men.
The men, sitting outside huddled over a cooler
full of cheap intoxicating cans.
More water than alcohol.
Laughing about their escapades as young men.
Reminiscing about the women that got away,
too afraid to admit, maybe,
they were just too ordinary for their liking,
trying to outdrink each other.
Acting like fools when 4.4% alcohol went to their heads.
All lessons of “masculinity”
I want to stay away from.
I am invited to the table now.
Cerveza to my left, curses rolling off my tongue,
hand on knife chopping onions.
No children to teach these lessons to
because I am still unlearning the damages of patriarchy.
Still searching for healing in the food that nourished
my body as a child.
I partake in conversations
that bring me closer to my roots.
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