BY BRENT AMENEYRO

The number of unaccompanied migrant children detained along the southern border has tripled in the last two weeks to more than 3,250
- NY Times March 11, 2021

The boundaries

of the field

were marked

with sweaters

and lunch boxes.

When we played,

there were no referees.

Nobody told us

whose team to be on.

When the ball crossed

the invisible line,

everyone just yelled.

Before

a cañonaso—

to alert teammates,

to trick the opponent,

or, sometimes,

as a courtesy—

we’d point

to the sky.

Brent Ameneyro’s poetry has been featured in journals, songs, and an art installation. He was the recipient of the 2019 Sarah B. Marsh Rebelo Excellence in Poetry Scholarship, 2020 San Miguel Poetry Week Fellowship, and the 2021 SRS Research Award for Diversity, Inclusion and Social Justice.