In the sixty-three years
I have lived
some instants are electric:

Two pounds of mestizo cornmeal
half a pound of loin of gachupin
cooked and finely chopped

Come, be my camera.
Let’s photograph the ant heap
the queen ant

Claribel Alegria’s poem “Summing Up” appeared in our Fall 1988 issue. Alegria is ninety-two today. Her latest book is Casting Off, translated by Margaret Sayers Peden. In the sixty-three years
I have lived
some instants are electric:
the happiness of my…