Tag: poetryeverydamnday

In response to Lâm Thị Mỹ Dạ's Bomb Crater Sky. Dad served two tours in the war,a media circus of Ohio hippies andescapes from Saigon via helicopterLit by the fireworks on the nightly news,gilded in the blood of the conscripts,photographed by Leica. Building roads as a Seabee,cleaning the mud caked on his boots with gasolineThe kids around the airfield would bring active landminesHeld tight like teddy bears to their chestsGoofy grins on their toothless mouthsKnowing the GIs would give them chocolate Your anxious, wakeful sky sends shivers down my spineMy footfalls want to echo your restraint,Tuned to a radio station…

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Surviving is a verb Living is too Breathing, smelling, touching Words that imply movement I've not stopped moving Since yesterday Whenever that was. Wish I could stop time The rat race Aging Death Sex Taxes Memento mori, Latin 'Remember you will die' Keep that hubris in check We're all born to die A monied death If you didn't buy it, you're the product. Can't stop, won't stop We don't even know how to stop Stop the ride - the human race - Please exit through the gift shop.

One of our in-class poetry prompts was to take a translated poem and translate it in our own way. I chose Salma Khadra Jayyusi's A Tale. I have no father-in-law I'm sure he exists He sleeps, fucks my mother-in-law (Hopefully she's a nice lady and will treat me well) He showers, and is a good Christian. A good Christian is rare in this country Hypocrites, the lot of them God knows the cross I bear Would make the Virgin Mary cry Wonder how many brothers and sisters He fathered before my husband Natural, illegitimate, aborted. My husband has a 50/50…

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You buy clothes you never wear To impress people who don't care You can't speak in front of crowds You should get your head checked You have blisters on your heels From shoes that refuse to be broken in You wear makeup to even out your tan Certainly not to impress a man Your mirror reflection of self Doesn't match the one inside You sing songs of love and heartbreak Because you cannot handle reality's handshake From the jump, you push everyone away To protect yourself from the inevitable day When they will turn & walk a way Because that's…

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Poems gush out my fingertips Written carefully in blood Tattooed on my skin The original sin Sapphire blue Crimson red Fetch me a napkin Sharpen the quill Pumice the moments Lovely bops of clarity 'Cause nothing else in this damn world makes a lick of sense.

Pink colored chlorophyll Sunshine blue marker Concrete easel Another one Eurydice walkabout Under the jazz promenade Beatrice says hello Measure for measure A forest lies honestly Mirrors seek wrinkles Presidential silence Elephantine s t r e t c h

The stars in the skiesDripped into your eyesLike the beautiful onesHold you when you're done. I'm in this for loveNot procreationFallen angels, righteous sinsRaptured in misdirection. Baby it's youIt's always been youFrom the moment I breathedYou in like a fogTrip me in the darkAnd into your arms. And another onePound me like a drumBrush the ivoryGot me singing harmonyThat beast with two backsCoiled like a snakeMake it worth your whileKisses loaded with guileWrite a silly symphonyUnder the cherry blossom tree.

twenty four hours in a day twenty four years since riots serenaded the streets of L.A. that powder keg of corruption safety of unreality violated blue and red combined made purple, united against the tyranny of the 5-0 we lived six hours away working class neighborhood southside Modesto I can see your face cringe all the way over here when I tell people where I lived. never thought it was that close until the house down the block had black and whites crowding our quiet street red and blue lights pulsing imprinting in my brain that damned song worming its…

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If I could, I would give my eyes back to God Return to sender, address unknown To remove from me the grief that comes With being slightly shadowed in everyday situations These pinpricks of space that adjust appropriately To the dark, to the light, unto the breach Can't see the leaf on the wind, watch how it soars Tired of seeing halfway, can't meet you there neither I can't get anything right.

All my life I straight tripped on who I was Was I Filipino, was I American? For twenty-eight years, I could not assume either role, I was never pigeonholed, but I never belonged. My accent is Nor Cal born & bred My height is so misled I eat rice with my hands I nosh hamburgers for breakfast I sing God Bless America with the firefighters I sing Dahil sa iyo like the Divas I drive like a maniac on the freeway But that’s a given, whether I’m brown or pink Doing our research made us children of the world: Filipino,…

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