Amparo Cabrera Pichardo Espaillat
(born 1920 in San Francisco de Jacagua, República Dominicana)

Mommy wouldn't utter the word Fat when speaking of you
Growing up, she made fun of how high waisted my clothes were 
“Just like Mama”
I imagine us both, swaying to a beat - belly free under our skirts
Your belly that carried 14 children
Your hands that once picked tobacco - peeling the skin of your next meal
I imagine us both seated at a table - the sound of forks picking at boiled plátanos
Mommy said you loved Yankee Doodles
Growing up I cursed my sweet tooth
Not knowing how similar we were
What once was an item to binge - now a bridge between our memories
I imagine us both, red lipped and long nailed - fingering the frosting of an Entenmann's cake
I imagine us both, feeding people as love
The etymology of the word feast is the Latin festus, which means joyous
I imagine us both joyful, eating without shame

Mommy said your motto was ‘‘la suerte de la fea, la bonita la desea”
"The beautiful woman envies the luck of the ugly one"
A woman from an island, loved by a white man
Oh how beautiful you were Mama
Big in body, Black in skin

To my first Known Fat Ancestor
The sweetest stage of a plátano is when it’s blackest
I will utter the word because I no longer fear it
Fat
Black
Just like you
Big in body, big in heart
Whole, this soul of mine.