Writing is writing whether done for duty, profit, or fun.
from: "Refugee"
And then, remember me—
detail by bloody detail;
reflect on what it is I represent,
and memorize these tears of blood
when you laugh at every refugee.
Fores Tamayo, Ana M. “Refugee.” Bad Hombres & Nasty Women: Anthology. Edited by Gabriel H. Sanchez and Isaac Chavarria. The Raving Press, 2017, pp. 16-21.
from: "they lie when they say grief lightens with time"
i want no more of family my brother is all i need of
love and grief ceaselessly intertwining
all i need of hoping and bleeding
hours of peace and hours of war
my brother in grieving for our dead mother our living father
his heart heavy with roiling griefs
his arms scarred over with living hurts
he cannot relieve the weight of my grief
i cannot relieve the weight of his and so we live
inhaling grief exhaling grief
lara silva, ire’ne. “they lie when they say grief lightens with time.” furia. Mouthfeel Press, 2010, p. 42-43.
"Awestruck [Verb]"
1. to quit
building bomb shelters
to keep the universe
from blowing your mind.
Gibson, Andrea. “Awestruck [Verb].” Lord of the Butterflies. Button Poetry, 2018, p.43.
"Unrest in Baton Rouge"
after the photo by Jonathan Bachman
Our bodies run with ink dark blood.
Blood pools in the pavement’s seams.
Is it strange to say love is a language
Few practice, but all, or near all speak?
Even the men in black armor, the ones
Jangling handcuffs and keys, what else
Are they so buffered against, if not love’s blade
Sizing up the heart’s familiar meat?
We watch and grieve. We sleep, stir, eat.
Love: the heart sliced open, gutted, clean.
Love: naked almost in the everlasting street,
Skirt lifted by a different kind of breeze.
Bachman, Jonathan. “Lone Activist Ieshia Evans Stands Her Ground While Offering Her Hands for Arrest As Riot Police Charge towards Her…” Jonathan Bachman Photography, 9 Jul. 2016, www.jonathanbachmanphotography.com/portfolio#I00004muFp75cdHk. Accessed 31 Mar. 2024.
Smith, Tracy K. “Unrest in Baton Rouge.” Wade in the Water. Graywolf Press, 2018, p. 46.
from: "Ode to TERFs"
you cite the transsexual empire
spell women incorrectly
hijack pride parades
& mourn michfest.
we are living
in a new world.
you can join us
or become
extinct.
Melt, H. “Ode to TERFs.” There Are Trans People Here. Haymarket Books, 2021, p. 20.
from: Citizen: An American Lyric
The patience is in the living. Time Opens out to you.
The opening, between you and you, occupied,
zoned for an encounter,
given the histories of you and you—
And always, who is this you?
Rankine, Claudia. Citizen. Graywolf Press, 2014, p. 140.
Chapin City Blues 