My Peace

- By Martín Espada, Jim Foley, and his students at the Holyoke Care Center

Editor’s note. The other day we spent a few hours speaking with MR Contributing Editor Martín Espada about his former student, Jim Foley. Here's a short excerpt from that interview, followed by a group poem composed by Jim and his students at The Care Center in Holyoke. The full interview is posted here:

Martín Espada: Jim took part in Teach For America. He went to Arizona in the 1990s, and taught at the Lowell Elementary School in Phoenix, in the barrio. He loved it. He wanted to do more of that sort of thing. I believe our first encounter was in the fall of 2000. I taught my Latino poetry class that semester, and Jim was one of the MFA students who took that class as an independent study. Jim was interested in the Latino community. He spoke Spanish. At some point, he came to me and said, “I taught in Phoenix; I taught in the barrio there; I taught with Teach for America. I want to do something like that again.” I said, “I know about this place in Holyoke called The Care Center, but they really need people who are bilingual.” And he said, “I’m bilingual.” So it was easy to refer Jim over to The Care Center. They snapped him up and they loved him. He taught English to their monolingual Spanish speakers.

Today, just by chance, I heard from The Care Center. I had to schedule my reading and visit with students there for the end of November. Ana Rodríguez, the educational director there, emailed me back and said, “Yes, this date will work for us, and we want to offer our condolences for Jim Foley.” She went on to describe how much they loved him and how grateful they were that I sent him their way. I hadn’t even remembered that I sent him there. Then it all came flooding back.
 

My Peace

Monica Colón, Lillian Báez, Sujeil Colón, Yahaira B., Natalie, Glenda Suárez, Linda Ortiz, Tzivia Gover, Beliza Cortés, Barbara M. Ríos, Jim Foley, Christina Santos, Limary González

I want it to feel like the breeze
when God opens
the doors of
heaven.

I want it to smell like the ocean breeze.
I want it to sound like coqui in Puerto Rico,
like the sound of the waterfalls
in Puerto Rico.

I want it to feel like real love.

I want it to look
like the hills on
“The Sound of Music.”

I want it to look like
the birds that fly.

I want it to feel like
      the birds’ wings,
            like the warm sun
                  on the last day of winter.

I want my peace to sound
like hip hop music.
I want it to look like
my mom’s beautiful skin.
I want it to look like waterfalls.
I want it to sound like
my mother’s song,
      like the ocean waves.

I want it to look like
spring, the sun rising and
the beautiful flowers and
green leaves growing from the
trees.

To learn more about the Care Center and the important work they do, please visit www.carecenterholyoke.org.

Jim Foley with staff and graduating students at the Care Center in Holyoke. From left to right: Irma Medina (Care Center staff), Glenda Suarez (Care Center graduate and teen mom), Jim Foley, Aimee Loiselle (English GED Teacher), and Maria Salgado (Care Center Transition Counselor). Photo courtesy of the Care Center.