For Lyzette Garza, learning to embrace her Mexican American heritage has been a lifelong journey. Lyzette speaks with poet Kelley Bell about her formative childhood moments: hearing stories from her dad under the stars, encountering prejudice on a family trip to Colorado, and how those experiences — along with her father’s enduring love of boots — have helped shape Lyzette’s perspective on her culture. And Kelley takes Lyzette’s account and turns it into poetry.

Versify is a production of Nashville Public Radio and The Porch — Nashville’s nonprofit literary center. Editing and production came from WPLN’s Mack Linebaugh, with additional editing by Anita Bugg and Susannah Felts. The episode was hosted, scripted and produced by Joshua Moore. Today’s story and poem were recorded by Luke Wiget at The 2018 Casa Azafran Valentine's Day Bazaar.

The music is by Chad Crouch, Podington Bear, Doctor Turtle, and Yair Yona found through the Free Music Archive.

Versify is distributed by PRX.