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19.1k · Nov 2016
To Be Black in America
Devin Ortiz Nov 2016
Is to be told all the ways you don't matter
It is to be angry and afraid
It is to watch people walk on the opposite side of the street to avoid you
It is to be told to get over slavery
It is to be told that I'm not racist I have black friends
It is to be told the definition of racism like you don't already know
It is to be told hey what about reverse racism
It is to have a white terrorist group dedicated to your elimination
It is to be more worried about threats in your own country and those abroad
It is to wonder daily if your family will be safe, if they will get to come home
It is to called a **** for speaking out against the hate
It is to be called lazy when you work full time to provide for your family
It is to walk past folks and watch as the clench their purse or pockets
It is to be to have people fear you, when you feel more threatened then they ever could
It is to be told that privilege doesn't exist
It is to be told you are equal, except you know that in the courtroom, in the eyes of the law, the job market, the housing market, in the classroom, it is a ****** lie
It is to be live in a world where 1 in 3 black men are in prison
It is to know that they have sentences longer than white counterparts
It is to know they use prison labor to exploit them, slavery living on
It is to know that the police which are a relief for some, are a nightmare for you
It is to know that you can do everything right and be killed by someone sworn to protect you
It is to know that you will be blamed for your death inspite of this
It is to have the life choked out of you and a man telling you, **** your breathe
It is to hear what about black on black crime, even though every race commuts crime against their own kind the most
It is to remember white flight and the repercussions of it
It is to have family who have seen the bloodiness of the covil rights movement
It is to be taught in school how great this country is while ignoring the evil its done
It is to be taught in school how little you meant
It is to wake up every 2 weeks to another hashtag of some poor black fella to be forgot in a week
It is to want to simply be acknowledged that things arent right, and being ignored to this day
It is to be villianized in the media
It is to see that flag everyone holds dear and remember that pain it caused you
It is to fight and die for a country that still doesn't care about you
It is to be told to go back to Africa as if this wasnt stolen land
It is to be told I dont see you as black, you're just the same to me
It is to be told well you don't count as black, you don't act black
It is to have your culture stolen
It is to have value placed on your mysic and style and not your skin
It is to hear what would MLK think about these protest
It is to remember that people celebrated his assassination
It is to remember the slurs and the hate he recieved
It is to have people know they don't want to be treated the way you are
It is to want whats always been denied, the privilege of walking in your own skin without fear of persecution
It is to see family, friends and peers celebrate and share racist ideas and beleifs
It is being reassured they still value you
It is to know but not enough to matter

Being black in America is a lot of things, and I love the country all the same.

But I hope and pray for the day, that we can be treated the same.
10.5k · Jun 2015
Blue Eyed Devil
Devin Ortiz Jun 2015
Devilish blue eyes, frozen gaze.
Influencing me against my will,
Submitting into dropping defenses.
Overcome with an inability to escape,
I become bound by those piercing eyes.

Sapping once kinder thoughts,
Replaced by detached isolation.
Shuttering at the crack of the whip,
Blindly I walk to death.
Carved flesh ammunition against
You, weakness exposed.

Lacerations to the heart exchanged,
Milky fog clouds my oppressor.
Pieces held together by hatred,
One blow away from cracking.
Further into broken self.
All freedoms come at a cost.
7.5k · Nov 2016
Biracial Anthem
Devin Ortiz Nov 2016
White skin
Black blood
Devil's curls
Eyes that pierce

You couldn't pick me from the crowd
And say that I was black
But I'll be **** sure, you're aware of that

I've got a chip on my shoulder
With a furrowed brow
And vendettas whispered from the graves

Silence was compliance
Now I'm screaming loud
6.0k · Sep 2016
Role Model
Devin Ortiz Sep 2016
Dear Colin

What an inspiration
A role model
See I know how you feel
I'm like you
Mixed race, perspectives of two

From a young age
And to this day I'm ashamed
I hated my blackness
I saw what the world offered them
So I didn't want part of it

And I saw my people
Crying out with no one to listen
So I used my voice
To scream their message loud

They'll call you a traitor
They say it's disrespect
But to be more mad of an anthem
than lives that are lost.
Lives these soldiers fight for
Lives these soldiers die for

You are my hero Kaep
You saved me.
The light in a dark world
Where hope evades the privilege
of a mulatto kid, with white parents

And hope burns in darkness
It shines it's light strong
10 years from now people
who so hated this movement
Will understand
This was the time
You led the rebellion
Against injustice for all.
5.7k · Dec 2016
The Mulatto Problem
Devin Ortiz Dec 2016
As a child, I was blessed
Light skin, in a white world
I had white friends, white teachers
I had white pastors, white family
That was everything that I knew to be

I had some black friends, a black teacher
I had a black pastor, black family
I saw color, I saw the differences
I saw white friends hating my black friends
I saw white teachers demean black students
I saw white christians leave the black pastor
I saw family both white and black love me just the same.

Hate is taught.
But birds of a feather
Flock together
And I flew with any breeze
That would have me.

With wiser eyes
With years behind me,
I've flown with the gentle stream
A birds eye view of an unchanging world
So I've decided to test the current
To soar with broken wings
Famished dreams
Onwards to freedom
5.2k · Feb 2018
Inside the Outsider
Devin Ortiz Feb 2018
What does it mean to be me,
The soul of a brother,
In the light skin of another..
Mulatto.

That biracial boy with white walls
And white bars,
A prison of stolen identity.

White & Black/ Black & White
Day & Night/ Night & Day

I'm the gray and the dusk inbetween
Devin Ortiz Feb 2018
The problem,
One that I keep coming back to,
In America,
Is one of Identity.

It's a thing that ebbs and flows,
With the coming and going,
Of whatever agenda is pushed.

Now, if I'm pulled over, or looked over by name, or dare I associate with color.

Then they'll **** me and my blackness.

Now, should I take it personally, or empathize within the box they put me.

Then they'll curse me for denying the whiteness.

In this tug of war, I write my own story.

Two races,
One mind,
But the spirit of millions.

I am my ancestors, black and white.
This is my perspective.
I'm taking it back.
3.4k · May 2015
Broken Harmony
Devin Ortiz May 2015
The sea, peaceful. Quiet.
Beneath, thrashing
an undertow unseen.
Dragging victims to
the depths.

There is me, silent.
Just a man. Humanity
is my shell
I am a wolf in
sheep's clothing.
A caged bird, with
a violent tune.

None are safe in
this world from,
true nature. Be it
the storms that crash
against us. Or the
Tempest raging within.
2.7k · Dec 2016
Dear Uncle Tom
Devin Ortiz Dec 2016
Dear Uncle Tom,

You have disguised yourself well.
For a moment, I didn't even recognize you.
Perhaps when you put on that suit, you too,
Forget that your reflection is a sad black man.

At first I was mad, Uncle, I thought how could you
To see you spout the lies of people who held,
Your own family down. Oh Uncle, I was so mad.
Denying your flesh, for a seat at the table.

But then I was sad, Uncle, so sad for you.
I really don't think you get it, or at least I hope.
Perhaps you suckled on ignorance and the ways
Of the world robbed you. Stole away your kindness

I really hope you'll change, because you are family.
But once you sold us out, I almost filled with rage
And to tell me you're proud I fight, and to undo
The work we've  done. ****** I don't understand.

You have to see it someday, the way they call you
Names. Treating you like an animal, no matter what Suit you fawn. They look to you and use you.
As weapons against your blood. Such a shame.

Well best regards Uncle,
Maybe one day you'll change.

Sincerely,
The ones you left behind
2.5k · Sep 2016
The Raven & the Wolf
Devin Ortiz Sep 2016
The raven is my eye in the sky
Swift and stealthy,
She cuts through the clouds
Her song rings in premonitions
Forewarning and foreshadowing
Any luck or omen that might meet me

The wolf and her pack are my ears
Listening for the buzzing in the forest
Striding through the leaves with discipline
She knows by the look in her eyes
By the fierce smile and sharp teeth
That she has my respect, and we are the same.
2.4k · Jun 2015
Speaking Out Loud
Devin Ortiz Jun 2015
When the words
do not come.
And you stare empty,
onto the pages that
tell tales far more colorful
than any songbird singing
its perfect tune.

Then speak out loud.
Words flow with such
fluidity and solidarity.
Pouring out of me with such
beauty that my fingers with
pen clenched could never muster.

Beautiful lyrics and words
and rhythms escape the confines
of this screen or the paper prisons
poets use to capture them.
The best works the truly inspiring
and jaw dropping, tear jerking
sentences and phrases will never
be seen to the world, when spoken
out loud.
#Speaking #Writing #Stumped #Paper #Words
2.4k · May 2015
Bittersweet.
Devin Ortiz May 2015
Hovering,
grey slow mist,
I hover slowly remembering each word
that was plucked from your mouth the night the
clouds came.

These words,
stolen from my heart.
Mind, makes decisions
followed by regret.
I watch you walk away,
as I’ve done so many times before.

My thoughts linger
watching you become nothing
but a memory made by
silver linings, and golden dreams.
I fear that even if I speak you won’t hear me,
tangled in poison ivy thorns,
I’ve lost you again.

Wounds open, again.
I take a moment
to reject this pain.
Fading as I drift away.
Breathe deep, a weight is lifted.
It hurts though, I’m half
of the whole that we were.

Here I am,
Caught between the shutter of
Memory, I hear a blue jay
Flapping its cobalt wings.
Clicking at me like your warnings
Of how you'd leave if I
Didn't love you the right way.
If I would only begin to want you
Out of the memories,
Out of right now, and into
The future.

The signs were there,
foreshadowed by cold,
distant mornings, crippled
by your escaped gaze.
Chilling my spine, your thoughts,
and desires left me,
in a state of hallowed truth.
Your beauty held back by
selfishness, my jealousy
poisoning your innocent
smile.
This was a joint project with another artist http://hellopoetry.com/LovelyLillianoftheValley/

We wrote stanzas back and forth to one another to create this story.
2.2k · May 2016
Darkness and Redemption
Devin Ortiz May 2016
A doer of evil deeds
Selfish in the stead of Selfless
A wild wicked mind
A twisted and crooked heart

Did love escape through,
       A clutched fist?
Did the angel of death deliver,
       An old friend?
Did life steal your innocence,
       Only to be replaced with pain?

Bearing witness to rotten fruits
Of your corrupt labor
To see the pestilence wrought
At the Arbiter's table

Two choices arise
Introspection weaves the way:

Tread further into the deep,
Embrace self destruction

Or

Allow redemption to chisel
Carving the flesh of the ******
2.2k · Jun 2016
I Lost My Favorite Hat
Devin Ortiz Jun 2016
I've been meaning to write
The time comes when whirlwinds
Words churning in the mind
Begin to babble their own tales

In absence of a pen
Collecting words and rhythms
Like the swear jar in my youth
So I'm in need of inspiration

Of course, today was not my day
I lost my favorite hat
The hat in my mind  which would
Imbue my words with fever

A cold glass to calm me down
Drink in the summers eve
Nature always puts me in the mood
To freely write my thoughts away

And then it began to rain
She is my lover, but not today
Things have not gone my way
Its pouring and I hate it
2.2k · May 2015
Duality
Devin Ortiz May 2015
In my youth
I was quick to anger
and destroy anything,
everything that stood
before me.

The sickness followed me.
Convinced inside, slithered
an evil and cynical mind.
My twisted self was buried
in the depths of me.

Only to feel a lose,
of what was my whole being.
Years longing, craving
the madness.
Tossing and turning
willing to give up all that
I was or would be,
to free this fiendish friend.

No one wants to be
good by nature.
To say I'm human,
then simultaneously
I desire the other side
of the light.

One sided, we are not whole.
It is our duty to consult
both our angels,
and demons.
2.1k · Nov 2019
The Fisherman
Devin Ortiz Nov 2019
Words drift, past the pages and recollection.
Some skip just above a stream of consciousness.
Others hurdle by, accelerating into shapelessness.

A fisherman of thought.
Praying the last of his bait,
feeds him, just another day.

As the days blend together,
and the current thrashes on,
hope is a face on the water.

He’s filled his belly with persistence,
but the need for creation lives on.

Cast the line.
Spin the rhyme.

Feast on the dreams of tomorrow.
2.1k · Aug 2015
Ego
Devin Ortiz Aug 2015
Ego
The cold metal of a silver spoon
Leaves stale memoriesin my mouth
Never had the taste of luck
Nor privilege that blesses few.

Underrated, judged and boxed in
Beaten by myself, along with societies glares
Dare to escape, to fight
The cornered beast flashes fangs

Claiming a cocky egomaniac
Through blinds eyes and deaf ears.
Rise and die for a 1000 days.
Tremors of tears on the fringe
Of empty yet focused demeanor.

Never apologizing for monster
That reflects from success.
2.1k · May 2015
My Fiendish Mask
Devin Ortiz May 2015
I once crafted a mask full of
my fiendish desires.
Black soul stained in clay
taking on my rage and wrath.

Placed upon my brow, I ignite
Hardened heart, thick darkness
consuming me, I embrace
Abandoning the light once again.

I press this pen to paper
synchronizing evil intentions
with the thoughts of my former
self no longer, I accept.

Blood rushing, chest bursting
Pride and power taint
the flesh upon which they lie
Slipping slowly into the Abyss.
2.1k · Sep 2018
Devils You Know
Devin Ortiz Sep 2018
I am of different mind.
Strong convictions about
The guilty, the right and the wrong.

And with the Devil on my back,
I scream this strange song.

Sins of the father, falter farther.
His downfall will be my ascension.

Through the manacles of manipulation,
He offers cries of peace, of mending.

A piece of a puzzle, which drew me life,
But the business ends there,
I'll not be intertwined in such affairs.

I'll ******* the old man, in mind and spirit.
The blinding goal of this obsession,
But these fruits of labor utter no confession.

And true, such an unwavering soul,
Is dark, toxic and hell.
Though, with black magic, it is for me to sell.

So it happens, that the devil is me,
Then I'll sit with that in evil glee.

Good, bad, or ugly.
I am left only with myself.
2.0k · Aug 2017
Spellbound
Devin Ortiz Aug 2017
What is a song, but a spell
A lyrical incantation of wonder.
Capable of transcending from
One emotional ecstasy into another.
2.0k · Nov 2016
Thankful
Devin Ortiz Nov 2016
I'm thankful for an awful lot
But where do I draw the line

I'll be thankful for my family
I'll be thankful for their memories

I'll be thankful for the friends I got
I'll be thankful for the things I've been taught

But where do I draw this line
When people tell me what to be thankful for

To be thankful to live here
To be thankful for freedom
To be thankful we're better off than some
To be thankful for things without considering the cost.

In good conscious. I cannot be
Thankful at the cost of misery

I will not be thankful at the expense of innocent lives.

I will not be thankful that things could be worse

I will not be thankful for this complacency

And while I'm **** sure thankful for the miracles in life.

I do so ever aware and never neglecting the cost of such things, that I am demanded to be thankful for.
1.9k · Sep 2016
Morning Rituals
Devin Ortiz Sep 2016
At sunrise
I awake from
A violent comatose

I welcome the fiery rain
Soak my flesh from the faucet
Taking deep breathes in stride

With an arsonist anthem playing
Eyes closed and heart racing
The immolation takes flight

Bones made ash become warpaint
A far cry from help as I burn
An unstable dynamo ready to blow
1.8k · May 2021
The First Door
Devin Ortiz May 2021
Stone slabs descended down,
forming a staircase straight to hell.

A sea of screaming miasma suffocated
either side of the winding venture.

The light of the world above no longer
registered as darkness swallowed this place.

It seemed that whether forward or back,
this road was infinite.

Finally, after endless time, the monument
of this suffering came into view.

The blackest Obsidian rose beyond
comprehension and without feature.

Voices wailed and tension bloomed
in ominous agony.

And as it called out, a liquid wave of
familiarity poured in and around me.

The door, once unmarked, split down the seam
as I came within the final stretch.

Understanding drowned my mind,
as I pressed my palm against its surface.

Instantly, with a deafening boom,
it swung open on ethereal hinges.

Walking through, in bewildering clarity,
what was one became two.
1.8k · Jul 2021
Geographic Cure
Devin Ortiz Jul 2021
I’ve stood coast to coast, listening to whistling, winding songs of the ocean waves.

I’ve lost myself in the sound and stories across the American highway.

Growth is not linear. A new place doesn’t make a new person. You take your baggage. You take all of the miserable excuses. You take time.

I’m not a sojourner. I’m not a traveler. I’m not some whimsical man.

Though, I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy it all. Enjoying it through the gritted teeth of resentment.

Reality is what you make of it. The when and where can matter, but it’s not all there is.

Sometimes we just need the roots to settle.
Sometimes we just need to let life bloom.

So I’ll take a drink, praise the sun, and live.
1.7k · May 2015
My Black Heart
Devin Ortiz May 2015
My heart is black
it has no reflection
but reveals my thoughts,
my pain and rejections.

My heart is black
and my blood runs cold.
I remember the past
back when I wasn't as bold.

My heart is black
my patience is thin.
Where are you God?
Why can't I win?

My heart is black
yet your light shines.
The cure for my darkness
sent from the heavens divine.

My heart is black
but our friendship grows.
I see the light
come on lets go.
1.7k · Nov 2015
Whirlpool
Devin Ortiz Nov 2015
Two wayward souls lost at sea
Depression weighed heavy on he
Terrified of this cold world was she

Drifting alone,
The sea salt saps hope
Of a good life, even as the storm passes
This tired man flats into the Abyss

Drifting alone,
The dark ocean pulls at pad foots
No concept of love, an void concept
Abandoned home, drowning her tears

By nature's fortune, enter the whirlpool
Which graciously accepts the lost
Drifting together into the danger
The torrents send them off
Two wayward souls lostin each other.
Just a piece to give voice to rescuing my dog from the streets as a puppy.
1.6k · Aug 2016
Gestalt
Devin Ortiz Aug 2016
This person
Is the Gestalt consciousness
Of beings both infinitely wise and foolish
Entities of absolute good and evil
Who, when encouraged to do so
Summon phonetical hymns
To invoke emotion in pure song
These individual constructs
While impressive in their solitude
Fail in comparison to their unity
Each a wildcard
That, when played
Become a wildfire of truth.
1.6k · Apr 2016
Crucible
Devin Ortiz Apr 2016
Thick heavy smoke rises
From chisled scars
Embers spark with skin flakes
Into toxic smog

Deep inhale, chokes lungs
Burning misfortunes churn
Red eyes swallow
The cloudy inferno

Golden windows to the soul
In the wake of consumption
Ashen flesh molded
Crucible sculpted perfection
1.5k · Oct 2016
Flying Home
Devin Ortiz Oct 2016
Tonight I get on a plane
Back home, to the place
That I left behind. The place
Where I packed up my things
Where I say goodbye and left.

But tonight I'll return. I wonder
What that will that be like. To return
To go back. How will I feel. Shall
Nostalgia take over and nuzzle me
As I embrace sweeter memories.

Or as I predict, will I learn that,
I can never go back. That what I
Left behind will never be. And that
Now, where I am, before this plane
Before I return is what waits for me.
1.5k · Nov 2015
Abandon Me
Devin Ortiz Nov 2015
Let it sink in,
The hurt
And pain.
The hole widening,
In the sunken chest.

Manipulating hands,
Plotting to no avail
Ways, to mend.
Two decades,
Plus a lifetime of mistakes.

Controlling, hedonistic pleasure.
Opposing selfless, selfish.

The firestorm blazing,
Engulfing and raging.
Burn the bridges.
Point-blank, BOOM!

Phantom, blood born,
Dead to me.
1.5k · Jun 2015
Fading Flames
Devin Ortiz Jun 2015
Inhale, the thick smell
of cinders and ash.
Ignites memories of this place.
The warmth, whispers words
long forgotten.
My feet leave impressions in the earth,
A stamp in time.

I remember when we lived here,
before ashes to ashes,
and before the sun went down,
leaving your eyes shining golden in the dark.
I will never forget the irises in your eyes,
burning as I remember you,
you smolder deeper into me than you know.

Your ghost resonates
in the embers, I sit.
Laying back, the passionate
flame left inside of me,
dances until the sun begins
to paint the sky with,
the majestic hues that
led us here. Suffocated now.
Even fires need to breathe.

I'm blue with a sadness
That burns hot and slowly.
You used to tickle me like tulip
Petals, your lips on my shoulder,
I won't forget you.
I wrestle with an ivy growing invasive
Over my heart.
I'm all of the things we lost and
Never had.

Peeling away the foliage,
I simmer down, let my fire
fade away. I brush away
times erosion, where
my fingertips burn as the
trace the name, that fueled
the light I cherished so dear,
all those years ago.

I'm swollen with a grief,
That grows from the mere fact
That you're just a ghost,
And that I'm growing out of
Rotten soil.

Blooming with malicious thoughts
crawling in the back of my mind.
Slithering down my spine, too cold
for the embers, the smoldering ash,
or charred remains which once burned
white hot in my heart to warm.
Another joint piece that http://hellopoetry.com/LovelyLillianoftheValley/ and I created.
1.4k · Aug 2015
Patient Rage and Growth
Devin Ortiz Aug 2015
I miss the warm tethered entanglement
Of white hot invading veins
And boiling blood slithering
Innocent lust for rage
Driven by underdeveloped
Over stimulated blessings of adolescence.

Age hardens the stone of flesh
Once fluid magma erupting
From volcanoes of mole hills
Turned mountains by the quick tempered.
Spitfire tongue incinerating old walkways
Patience and time cool the ferocity
Burning rivers now gentle streams
Chisling rough roads, eroding paths.

Ancient doors reopened
Ready for the next adventure to take place.
1.4k · Nov 2016
Closed Door, Open Mind
Devin Ortiz Nov 2016
A grand gateway, reaches
Towards heaven, burrowing
Into hell itself, resides in ridicule
To an immortal being, in mortal flesh

Nightmares are cocktails for truth
Incantations to shatter bones into keys
Padlocked manipulation and deceit
Failed attempts echo in magnitudes

Both sinister ploys and moments of joy
Ripple into cracks, teasing of another side
A truth for the ancients, beings without moral
Fathomless worlds of nuetrality and power

If ever for a moment, and not a moment more
These shockwaves of the mind come shattering
Blowing down this door, screaming rage and ruin
Then I will be free, of the chains which bind me.
1.4k · Sep 2018
Double Edged Pen.
Devin Ortiz Sep 2018
Writers are quite dangerous.
She came to the bar, to watch,
And listen, to hear stories.

Carefully, I tread. For fear,
That my own diction, would become
Trapped in her world of fiction.

Though, of course we swapped pieces.
And still, only selected to paint,
A vision of my own creation.

Small freedoms, but they matter most.
As I'm a prisoner to demon's I host.
Be wary poets, of power most foul.

Ensnaring half spectres of being,
In a prose, a thought or a feeling.
Reality is as real as you write it.
1.4k · Oct 2016
Soul Sister
Devin Ortiz Oct 2016
New Orleans, the French Quarter
Her eyes illuminate in the streets
Jazz bands dance with her spirit
As the enchantment of the night begins

Her soul, out of body, out of mind
Like water, boundless, dances with devils
Under street lamps, in our world
Marionette strings sever into liberation

Oh! What freedom, to be, to exist
As an experience, unable to be captured
Not by the words that bind her to the pages,
Nor world which demands of her

All the while she knows,
She doesn't owe it a **** thing.
1.4k · Apr 2019
Solitude
Devin Ortiz Apr 2019
Solitude is the strength of separation.
The separation of self, from others, from all.
Within the crowds and between loneliness,
Solitude is power personified.

Solitude walks the streets in indifference,
Passerby’s smile or stare, no care.
The vacuum of isolation’s stronghold,
Breathes confidence, exhales ticking time.

Solitude is the mask of many,
And the face of few.

Solitude is the liar’s crutch,
And the King’s crown.

Be wary of Solitude, its power is profound.
1.3k · Jan 2016
Lucifer
Devin Ortiz Jan 2016
Hatred replaced the beating
The violent vibrations hollowed
Once lush and lively places
Carved in feelings I cannot understand

Conflicting with virtues
Asking what is the right thing
Introspection reveals the fear
Of the shameful devil in the mirror

Transformed from the wickedness
Which has grown wild and cruel
Bloom these demon eyes
Luminating into the might with pride.

Beckon down deep, the cold echoes
An evil mind holds the truth
Toxic lifeblood eroded away
The former, the King of Beast in my stay
1.3k · May 2015
When I was Innocent.
Devin Ortiz May 2015
The sparkle in your eye,
steals my heart immediately.
I find myself in front of you,
Speaking without thinking.
Words flowing, you laugh.

This is when I think your heart
was stolen by me.

Love is curious, I'm warm.
Saturated in this hot and heavy
mysterious wonder.
You watch my lips, following
with no break. Captivated
by my innocent views.
Of a world that we don't live in,
a perfect world. Were we all
were actually happy.

This is not reality. My love,
walked me out into the night
holds me close, piercing me
with truth. Innocence spills from
my chest, soaking the concrete.

The empty space inside, filling
with the product of love.
HATE. The world, peaceful,
full of dreams, shattered
into pieces I could not pick up.
Nightmares invade my eyes.
Only its now that I see,
its no fantasy, just painful
and real.
1.3k · Dec 2016
Enough
Devin Ortiz Dec 2016
That word. Enough.
It rings with impatience.
Enough. What is Enough.

For me. Enough. Is too much.
Enough. Is a spectrum. Of opposing sides.
On one end. Those who have had Enough.
On the other. Those who haven't had Enough.
On one end. Those who die because of Enough.
On the other. Those who live because of Enough.

People claim that All Lives Matter.
But they haven't mattered Enough.
Black Lives Matter. But they haven't Enough.
On that spectrum of skin from Black to White.
This country's decided where Enough is.
Right on the line where you matter
Just not Enough for change.
Not Enough
Not Enough
Not Enough

So when. Is Enough. When is that.
When will Enough. Actually be Enough.

These people surely have had Enough.
But clearly not Enough for you.
1.3k · May 2015
Beacon
Devin Ortiz May 2015
If I had to choose,
I'd say I'm more a lover
than a fighter
Not that I do not
hate to love at moments
or that others I would
not fight the good fight.

While I don't love
a lot of people.
Days go where I
despise those around me.

I find that one perfect
soul never disappoints.
Darkest days are eroded
by the most simple light
from a being who
without an effort
became my beacon of hope.

When the hurricane
of hurt and suffering
strikes my heart and
breaks spirit.
While the world would spit
and step on every dream
I could muster. This beacon,
this tiny light.
Can repel the darkest
of nights.

This spark of hope.
As wonderful and blessed
as it is. Is also a curse.
For what once is light,
can become the most bitter
and powerful poisons
to the heart.
The strongest saint loses
sanity to his fiercest demons
with the absence of light.
1.3k · Apr 2017
Yosemite
Devin Ortiz Apr 2017
Black feathers signal an arrival
What seemed like endless roads
Carved rugged into the Earth
Beady eyes welcome this moment

Low valley streams, white rapids
Serenely sinister silence of the woods
Two feet, four paws just a blur
Grounded only by a painted beauty

Sun sets, fire rises, that smokey cinder
Eating,  laughing, living so free
Stars explode through the tree tops
Night summons an absolute darkness

Blood red dawn, a shadow of the day
Walking now, footsteps, running water
Collecting the goodbyes and good times
Naturally black feathers occupy the vacancy
1.3k · Dec 2016
To Tire of Old Ways
Devin Ortiz Dec 2016
I tire of this Patriarchy
The footpaths, The Guidelines
The strict Dogma, The misogynistic guise

I tire of these Sins
The evil manipulation, The father of my fathers
The pleasure of power, The hearts swollen with hate

I tire of this Psychological Harem
The predestination, The pain of letting things go
The image staring back at me, The toxic masculinity
1.2k · Jul 2015
Alien
Devin Ortiz Jul 2015
Not an Alien
Just alienated
By myself
For myself
To myself

No friends
No family
No ties

I don't want to be like them.
Like the others.

I call out to the universe
Awaiting my summoning.
To be ripped and torn apart
Rippling through space and time.
Where echoes of my existence
Pass by in cosmic memories.
1.2k · Feb 2016
Infinity
Devin Ortiz Feb 2016
Time is the 4th dimension
Across space, Existing infinitely
Within life's frame of reference
Daily routine,  past, present, future

Experienced simultaneously
Anger of yesteryear
Present presenting content
Confusion of the future

All at once
breathe in unison
What you were
What you are
What you will become
1.2k · Dec 2015
Sacrifices
Devin Ortiz Dec 2015
I cannot touch the sand
The unease of the coarse grain
Pressing my foot down, terror rises

I'm a killer
1, 2, 3, 4
5, 6, 7, 8
Body count

Three hours of sleep
All that my demons allow me

I walked with nightmares
I sacrificed... for them
I sacrificed... for them
I sacrificed... for them

Fighting under banners
Flying high for freedom
I became the prisoner

War is art, painted in blood.
Live the life I cannot
Hear the fireworks
Touch the sand
I sacrificed these for you.
Words of a soldier, interpreted by me
1.2k · Dec 2016
No Compromise
Devin Ortiz Dec 2016
Calls for Patriotism,
Does not equal a compromise.
Complaining about divisiveness
Requesting unity, and patience
Is the luxury of the majority.

To ask such things, emulates ignorance
Offering togetherness, as blind eyes fall
On bodies littered in streets, or behind bars
It is to insist to further a cause of opposition
Allowing complacency to enslave and oppress
1.2k · Feb 2017
4th Horseman & The Beast
Devin Ortiz Feb 2017
Lightning.
Crack.
Thunder.
I split.
Straight down.
Gazing up. I see.
The 4th Horseman.
Standing split, where I stood.
I see. The Beast. Proliferating in my absence.
The Horseman, crooked smile and evil gaze.
The Beast a chaotic shade of nightmares.
I lay, dying. Watching. What I refused to be.
I, existing in them. But now split.
I feel their darkness. I feel the burn.
They walk over to me. Throwing me aside.
They cackle in a blood curdling scream.
We exchange looks.
We embrace the end.
1.2k · Nov 2016
The Warning
Devin Ortiz Nov 2016
A sinister plot unfoils
As the masses cheer with glee
Alt-right legion growing , don't want us to be free
A revolution rumbling, justice for the spoils

A sickness is spreading, stomach toils
A warning of words, to open up eyes and see
As hatred feeds on silence, of people who let it be
A witness to the victims, the blood soaked soils
1.1k · May 2017
It Could Be Me
Devin Ortiz May 2017
Nothing to you
Because they look like me
Hashtags, forgotten in a Facebook feed
Should have done this, should have done that
All becomes irrelevant from a rata-tat-tat

Quick on the trigger, when color hits the eye
That racial bias keeps fatalities high
But that's me too, in case you forgot
Behind every tragic black body shot

Always a moment away
From a cop's bad day
They'll take their leave from work
And still get paid

The facts exist, believe it or not
Silence is compliance, so we'll still get shot
I'm white and black, but they'll only see the latter
So stand with me, shout Black Lives Matter
1.1k · Oct 2016
Midas
Devin Ortiz Oct 2016
Midas was my enemy,
A violent grip, on an old pen
Tossed it over for me to bend
Words for his twisted golden mind

The cursed King with all his riches
Wanted the prose for cure
A rhythmic rhyme  to rid his shine
To end his touch of alchemy

I pitied the old man, his metallic
Skin, did send shivers down my spine
I offered a verse, reading and lips pursed
As 24 karats fell from his eyes
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