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Newerican
Newerican American Américan Am-é-rican Nuyorican Newerican Brooklyn bard code switchin’ orator home of Biggie and Basquiat scribblin’ sonnets in the womb of my mama she birthed a riot I don’t know how to keep quiet my tongue tattooed with the track marks of trailblazers spilling ink from marginalized pages call me newerican baptized by the word of El Reverendo resurrected in the spirit of Laviera...
La Lucha
La Lucha They don't know what to call women like us Women with coffee bean eyes noses thick like sugarcane welded from predecessors y patria, hair a filament of rizos y raíces they don't know what to call women with an ocean of ancestors swimming against the currents of assimilation they call us exotic, erotic, ethnic, different anything but beautiful can’t pinpoint the indigenous, the Spaniard,...
HINDSIGHT
HINDSIGHT 1. When you are older. Some nights, on instinct, your chest will tug itself away from the bed. It will not matter that you now live in a neighborhood where bullets typically do not vacation. You will still hear them. You will still feel your mother pulling you towards a broken floor. You will still smell like wood and splinters. In the future You will date men that taste both of gun...
BRUJERIA
BRUJERIA Carmen is seeing things again. The oil drips from the walls; she swipes the grease onto her hands and tells me: “Mira, Estoy Unjida.” “Look, I am anointed.” God has always been her favorite lubricant. On occasion you can hear her bones creak a glory hymn. She will sing along with her breaking skeleton. Carmen is not crazy. She will tell you that she is just recovering from the neighbors...
Within An Hour
Within an Hour for Jack Agüeros Within an hour she was exorcised. Doctors and the holy ghost summoned by the family pastor purged what was left of her, replaced it with Prozac. Pumped pills, sedatives, and psalms until she submitted. The privilege of returning to a soft bed free of straps and buckles sounded promising. Florescent lights scorched her feathers leaving small acceptable scars below...
Teeth*
Teeth* María De Los Ángeles Pineda is dreaming of teeth half- jaws snapping at her big toe pulling the covers forcing her to feel the cool mountain wind she has always preferred her city of asphalt over houses build in mud thousands of bits of enamel taunting from the kitchen table chattering in her soup rage boiling over gripping the noodles perfectly forming a floating number 43 the broth...
Bendición: In Praise of All Who Seek Consulta From La Rubia
Bendición: In Praise of All Who Seek Consulta From La Rubia La Rubia: opens her home to patrons at 11 a.m. every day welcomes many regulars and some new faces into her modest living room shuffles the deck of faded naipes separating the cups, coins, clubs and swords, these are the mouthpieces of the soul. “Cut the deck with the left hand, it’s closest to the heart.” she says Bendición for Luz:...
Thankful
Thankful For more than just a brief moment I come back to you Since moving away eleven years ago. Still baffled by how long it's been since We last spent this much time together. Want to desperately look you in the eyes as I Thank you for always having kept it real with me But circumstance won't allow. Through tangled emotions I Apologize for having left so suddenly. Thank you, again, for your...
For Real This Time
For Real This Time like keyboards replacing pens screens replace lined canvas now decorated in vibrant hues of positive vibes, anticipations and barriers broken no longer smeared by random thoughts, heartbreaks and unfulfilled dreams. the new organized chaos. scattered visions float like unpieced puzzles reuniting magnetically authentic God sent reverie. the forces have aligned, spirit has been...
Writer’s Tango
Writer's Tango Before the children awake In between white sheets, adorned in blue they meet. Creeping, compliant and limber. Climbing over, under and in between opportunities with contortionist skill. Battling life obstacles desiring a chance to renew the vows of their magic, mantra, sutra love. ¡Se adoran! Pero, de esto, a veces se olvidan. Se pierden entre el horario del dia, aveces por semanas...

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