Rilke says you have to live in order to write poetry

even if you're not
a bartender
a knife fighter
a ballet dancer
a truck traveler

you could write
since all of us in our
beds or
computers
think of something
someone already thought of

academics say
we're connected

write
you'll be speaking in behalf of
the entire world

i'm still
wondering
if writing in english could be
the right move
when writing
a poem

second languages
and many words I don't know
figuring out how
not to repeat any word

suddenly i'm not
styling all the capital letters
mssipleing evyre wrod

i guess poetry gives you
her permission
to write from soul
not grammar

i think of
                  spanish
words
i think of rythm
i write in english

i love my dad
you do not see it
but that's the way
it is

three hour van silences
are no longer
awkward

i am the scion of 4
that's never going to greet him

i know a child
scratches his belly from the inside

i'm in the house of mirrors
while everyone is eating
i see through the
teasing, the
shouting
mom shakes her head "no one
can ever talk to you"
i see
through
the
pain

my silence as a message:
67 years no longer let you
rush to climb the stairs
to embrace the plush worm
of colors: i do it for you

i do not greet you
but i dress a shirt
with the caption "DADS"
and a picture of us two.