We wait and we wait and we wait. Patiently. Lovingly. Anguished. We wait for our schools to be safe, For our streets to be cleaned, For our vecindades to have jobs, And for our families to walk through these spaces without being criminalized. We wait for our neighbors to stop leering at us, For their […]
Category: Poetry
What is Your Library? Mine is
The single mothers, their fidgeting children, the grumpy teenagers, and the young adults using the printers, the Senior citizens enjoying their classes downstairs, the folks with special needs finding accommodations, and the infrequent visitors who used to come to the branch more often, as well as the various other patrons of the library who breathe […]
Poem in Hand, I Would Like to Welcome You With the Following
I experienced the sneers of discrimination at my schools before I experienced the sonnets of poetry within them. But the first time I was discriminated against based on the color of my skin, the language I spoke at home, or some other characterization of me, I didn’t quite know the definition of the word: discrimination. […]
In a Box, Hidden from My View, Lies a Record
People, slain, History books, vanished Pictures, stolen Mi abuelito’s pictures. Flowers, fettered Names, redacted Bullet with my name on it. Warrant for my citizenship, overdue. Every day, sirens Us, bleeding, Suffocating, silenced. Never, White. Us, “want rest,” Trump, “Law and Order.” Sun, sets, We pray. Borders, bellies Jailing, rapists. America, bloodthirsty, Me, ashamed. Mothers, baby […]
