Fine porcelain litters the cloth,
yet a quick pull leaves it still.
An exchange of tails both
holding, careful to not spill.

Our plates remain intact,
despite accidents of gravity.
Clearing the surface momentarily
within arrangements of integrity.

Utensils quickly turning
our tensile accent; I uttered
Vowels to what was heard
repeatedly signed our yearning.

Difference meant crosses
connecting lines of diffusion.
Anak, there was a time
your last name - carried
but prejudice will follow.

Our immigration,
garnered tailored unsuited
ties to our beautiful pearls,
progress adapts singularity,
a strength for your identity.

Relief, from fastened shades
opens palms allowed to dry.
Soiled worth will blossom
your ancestry will procure
self-reflection, and will spread.

Speaking our language
turned to novelty stones.
But a divided tongue
will speak the same good
bringing you respect.

Wash your hands, pray before
eating with your hands.
Appreciate the feel of the rice
each grain has it’s worth,
the pull from our hull.

The minute handed the past
while seconds elapsed alarms.
Expectations lead to patience
- causations falling over charm.

Unrequited executed hanging
on holding all the rest.
Sincerity perpetuated,
unresolved swinging at last.

Barefoot without impression
you remembered this pair.
Unexpected crosswords
rising letters to share.

An exchange of auditions
retracting resigned conditions.

Reviewing has been the perpetual answer.
To the unclear inquisition
that befalls the people
I have not seen
or spoken to for some time.
But there’s a progress
to the studies
which have accompanied
my mind to see beyond even me.

Thorough repetition
of factual information
in a mundane fashion.
The passion for acquiring
the necessary knowledge
has found it’s self
incorporated
in the daily conversation.

In the morning
a discrete young woman
fashioned with a “salmon”
bandana, leaving the cafe
with green tea in hand.
Followed by the waddling
footing of a child holding
a mother’s hand.
In passing, an adult
repetitively cursing
on the undertones
of their words.

The following day
a man in a tailored suit
talking to himself
with an ear-piece
unseen to some.
A young man
holding his father’s hand
hauling an oxygen
tank behind him.
A young lady with
white complexion,
studying. As she faces
my way her cheeks appear
with patching tones of black.

Reminded daily,
I return to these books,
the flow charts of
pathologies and treatments.

Humbled,
that the view and discourse
of our conditions
are not all the same.

Looking back
is a turning point
to remembering,
almost glancing
past the light that already passed.

An internal discourse
that had it measures
harmoniusly in concert
of leads and follows.

These days require inspiration
for revelation to follow elation.
An adaptation solely for the
consciousness.

When you criticize
the recesses of your mind,
you come to realize
the limitations
that remind your fears.

Simple acceptance,
suppression
or worse a change
in direction
isnt the resolve
but rather continue.
Let hope adhere.

Keep looking back,
when I can’t move forward, I keep looking back.

The connection with how I speak
and how the words that follow
seem to not catch the dancing
and listeners that follow.

The crowd around this tribal
semi-circle hasn’t taken
the feathered trials
fitted on their fathers minds.

Whether they choose
not to embrace or to me disgrace
by forgetting their past
it familiarizes my identity.

But familiar curvatures
form complete circles,
overlapping or simply touching
we are all siblings of each other’s hold.

Whether the sun provides
more warmth here
or my skin appears pure, we still remain
within the same wars of existence.

I echo respect, you understand
because it simply translates.
Continue on, remember re-verse.
Keeping shades.

Positions block the light,
rather corner views of the night.

Keep looking back,
when I can’t move forward, I keep looking back.

Supine and enamored in cotton sheets.
Motionless, with vessels dilated at the time.

The filtered light makes it’s journey.
Warmed by the hour, warned by the noise.

A voiceless yawn, a reflex, and then stretch.
A conscious gasp followed by flaccidity.

Yet the day before, perpetuates
the morning after.

Evenings always seem to foretell
the prior hours of our working days.

If the day moves, without faults
we speak in a elated way.

When a hinderance appears
and untimely tragedy commits.

The liquid labor may be your vice
to secure then admit vulnerability.

Nothing more are the stumbles
that only gather footing
and stand against
the door opening

to traffic, streets garnered
with endless glows
within our restless minds
finding exits to resetting the past
and just returning home