Mixed-Race

Headed for the mountaintop,
where lives the snow,
we bypass the dirt
where flowers grow
womb of life
where brown color rises
in our flesh,
reflected in our irises.
Blind are we to our own beauty,
so focused on what we want to see.
In front of us is our earth,
same as our skin,
our place of birth,
Here we are, multi race or one,
where exists melanin
same team,
same flag,
same sun.

I Love You Raw

I love you raw
like Golden delicious apples
salads tossed like
red cherry tomatoes in auburn summer
mixed with purple kale, baby greens and chard
grated cabbage and beets
chewy raisins and hard cashews
raw okra/artichoke/carrots/celery/asparagus/mushrooms
and ripe green cucumber
a pear for sweetness
topped with ginger, dill, oil, lemon avocado dressing
spicy like cayenne pepper
and imported like red Himalayan sea salt

I love you raw
like emotions
vulnerable on impact
a Mac Daddy truck to a Buggy
no playing chicken here
we’ll both lose

I love you raw
like sloshing sex on my moon
from you,
an unrefined baby I will birth
impure, aqui, always
inhaling yogi breaths
during conception, delivery, maturation
inhale for three/hold six/exhale 9
swirling sticky breath and scent
licking your salt
raw like DeNiro in Taxi Driver
or ragged pink meat

I love you raw
sexy, slutty, nigga and bitch
I love you like gazpacho
I love you like that

I love you raw

Deconstriction

Tongue laps breath
behind constricted throat
rough wind blows
an unlit match
head bowed
hiding behind walls
like a cowardly soldier
pee trickling down pants’ legs
.
a bindhi cow rises
tramples walls of death
into burnt ashes and hamburgers
cooled ash settles
my throat, a present,
voice, my gift

Tattoo

icy needles
like cats’ claws
scraping skin

impotent rage rises
to boil a raw
creation

New Roads

Developers’ white hands
Point to the man
Controlling the bulldozer
Invoking a strangle
A tease

Brief smile brushed lips
Shiny tarred roads
Glass buildings, abodes
A bow of the head
To thank the overhead

Black tar roads
Paved for new people
Glass caught in the cracks
White and green
Color between the gaps forebodes

Delusion

You, a sun with no planets.
The lion baring teeth about to strike
falsely limping, another’s blood
dripping from your jaws.

Unity by Pablo Neruda

Unity
by Pablo Neruda
Translated by Clayton Eshleman

There is something dense, united, settled in the depths,
repeating its number, its identical sign.
How it is noted that stones have touched time,
in their refined matter there is an odor of age,
of water brought by the sea, from salt and sleep.

I'm encircled by a single thing, a single movement:
a mineral weight, a honeyed light
cling to the sound of the word "noche":
the tint of wheat, of ivory, of tears,
things of leather, of wood, of wool,
archaic, faded, uniform,
collect around me like walls.

I work quietly, wheeling over myself,
a crow over death, a crow in mourning.
I mediate, isolated in the spread of seasons,
centric, encircled by a silent geometry:
a partial temperature drifts down from the sky,
a distant empire of confused unities
reunites encircling me.

Inbetween Skin

zen mysterious kisses
light tapping lips on the buttocks
revealed a sensation
like a rocking chair in grandmother’s den
into the room sneaks tender moonlight
a baby falls asleep
food is left in the crisper
up the walls shadows creep,
dance on the bedroom floor
playing games like gypsy faeries
who cover their anticipatory mouths
stand on tiptoes,
watch with rose eyes
the nightly dance
of entangled legs
and white satin fingertips
crossing translucent lines
and curving bodies gyrate
like delicate knives under the moonlight

Mutual Love

sex is the fireplace in my living room
a giving of self you can hear
the echo of the sea in a shell
bonds as tender and strong
as stretched iridescent tendons
plucked free.

RIP Javad

This poem is dedicated to the dedicated, eternal brother of the Black Nationalist movement who died this week from pnemonia after having been in a coma and having H1N1.

a brother died in the struggle
not from AIDS, violence or abuse
he carried the weight
of his communities’ ailments
in his earthly body
offered self affirmation
to young people
JAVAD
You will be Remembered.

Look out for us
from afar
the spirit realm’s now
where you reside

* * *

a good brother died
because he carried other’s pain and hurt
and longing and separation
because he ate too many cheeseburgers
take care of yourselves so we don’t lose good brothers and sisters
to more disease