Late morning mother made me hold the rooster’s legs as she hunched over holding the wings a horizontal slash across the neck The blood poured into a round ceramic bowl muscles twitched in death my hands struggle for life It was a necessity for the ceremony father would perform later for grandmother sick... Continue Reading →
On a Street
Music filters out the café door where I sit with my friend, cigarettes and coffee in our hands, commenting on the dress of passersby, who could care less about our existence. Though she wants to be great, she fears doing something not ordinary. Once, she was great at soccer but it wasn’t cool to... Continue Reading →
Untitled
T’is the difference between bad poetry and good: Bad poetry sometimes enthralls the way a pretty girl standing at the bar attracts the eyes and tugs impulses. Good poetry ____________moves.
Fall
the thinning air scares me ___away to the valley withering wandering __________towards the valley in mid-October’s rain flooding dry decaying leaves cold wind’s discomfort brushing my face _______________reminding me I’ve forgot ___cold winds carrying emotions, leaves me wondering ___________why everything is starting __________________________to go away in Autumn’s departure- ___what is this I see... Continue Reading →
Girl’s Room
______For George Oppen A stranger peeked in Plath’s and Dickinson’s windows late at night, and thought, “Man, these are lassie rooms,” and laughed alone. Yes, a woman’s room is a girly room, and I hope men know that the intelligent prostitute will excite a man, a whore not a girl reaching for... Continue Reading →
Simple Clarity
_____For Jean Donnelly Oh, Jean, it’s okay If you do it beautifully, My name’s rhyme Nothing else should Clarify so simple The pen’s condensation A long draught The ink’s condescension A first draft The end product ___begins logic Who creates I know ______I shall meet— The scholars—and The daffodils— At night the... Continue Reading →
Migrant Burden
Migraine headache ___a migrant backache ______from father to son. An American daughter-in-law _____our burden together. Donna wears her emotions on a flushed pale face washed with ivory cream ___what she brings to the table white rice _________mother taught her to wash and steam. Her father and brother wonder why I never finished business... Continue Reading →
For an Old Lover
I can see your gaze on the horizon, steady, not like mine as I drive alone glancing at everything ____________________that measures how far I am from home. The number on the trip odometer is a fraction, nominal in the permanent measurement, scant but significant, vital to the equation’s precision, it itself a testament, _________________as... Continue Reading →
City Lights
.....in the city’s perfect emanation of light -Carolyn Forche Traffic light _____spotlights __________the hungry man on the corner _____holding a cup for change. Christmas lights _____bring out his high cheekbones _____ragged pants over thin thighs __________eating into themselves. Red light district _____nonexistent __________in fishnet stockings _____and black leather miniskirt. Street... Continue Reading →
The Star
This star burns _____so far and invisible __________to our eyes. Her colors masked _____by distance, wavered __________in the journey. Through the lens, _____the mascara’s imprint; __________a Polaroid dried of rainwater.
Mister Saechao 