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Timo Kat Dec 2014
Where I’m from,*
               unlike what Willie Perdomo says,
                        she might know
                                   where I was from.

Where I’m from,
                we love the breath of whispers.
                         My mom would sing and rhyme
                                   in the ears of my little sisters.

                She would hum and mumble,
                         my dad would whistle,
                                   they would never grumble
                                             until we fall asleep.

Where I’m from,
               we greet with
                          "guten morgen"
                                     to everyone in the breakfast’s table,
               and we smile and say,
                          "takk for maten"
                                     for those who serve the food.

Where I’m from,
            we play with colors for Holi,
                       we fast Ramadan,
                                  we celebrate Christmas.

Where I’m from,
                 we wish you Happy birthday
                               in more than 90 languages,
                                        and these are the advantages;
                              we make you a strawberry cake,
                         we even make you a card,
      but we might throw you in a lake,
or prank you very hard.

Where I’m from,
          we say,
                 “Ni hao ma?”
                           For the person living next door,
when we leave
          we say,
                “hasta luego mi amor.”

Where I’m from,
                we love the breath of whispers,
          she whispers,
                         “habibi, waheshtini.”
          I reply,
                         "I missed you more,"
          and add
                         “Ma armastan sind.”

Where I’m from,
           the smell of your kisses
                      plays with my senses
               so,
                      I could hear your hair,
                   I could taste your beauty,
                I could see your wintry smell
               and I could touch the echo of
                               I love you
              spelled out from your mouth.
David Zavala Nov 2018
Why is the gorilla solitary?
    
     I’m not a primatologist
              I don’t know
But what I do know is that I want you sober and safe, if not sober, then safe.

But! “Would it be okay if I set up the time?”

A very serious thought should be inserted here, one that allows you to stay sane and within boundaries.

Don’t weep! Clean your room and visit your local art museum. If you need to, pick up an album beforehand and don’t remove your headphones while you walk through the museum mesmerized by the objects and paintings, you see. The gorilla that is the alpha male will sit alone. I don’t know why.

To reach out and grab a bottle of mustard and ketchup and put them on your hot dog is all I could ask for

And the backyard of your grandfather’s house is more than I could ask for

I will expect him to guide me out the glass door to his workshop where I will look in amazement and feel a certain feeling

I will want to pick up the tools
grandpa has laying around
and try to make something.
I won’t know how the machines work
and I will want the car he drives to have
                                            a broken wind shield.

I will want to write while you learn to paint
I will want to learn to write while you paint.

I will buy popular science books and visit a planetarium but won’t understand a thing the scientists are saying
I will use a different way to communicate that uu should be careful who you model yourself after.

       not crazy, operant conditioning!?
                              a form of expression
                                     with intent!

A four-walled room painted white
An isle to walk down alone.

A door you come upon, where you are greeted by a smile by a friend who has all the answers.
And without your neediness, or your distaste in the wrong culture, or the flutter that occurs to you and your conscience, or the answer to question three on your religion test, or a meal with your mother, or your father staying late working, no questions being asked,

                                                            you find yourself in
                                                     your room, still lost and needy

There is a course you could take and I encourage it.

Girlfriends are expensive. The definition of a cell is the single, smallest unit of an organism. There is room for growth! The sun! Clouds! Nimbus! Positioning! A room where you can be creative
                                                        ­      a conceptual space
                                                                ­         where you can sit
                                                             ­                     and smile

perhaps a café, boys,
or a hospital waiting room

after arriving in town by way of an airplane from San Francisco
where upon you are
immediately
rushed to the ER
because of an infection
in your stomach

you realize that football games aren’t all
that bad

And that your car doesn’t really need to
be washed every 2 weeks but that it’s strongly suggested.

You are wrong.

     Say I love you to her in 5 different languages

Estonian: Ma armastan sind
                Mina armastad sind (formal)

Czech: Miluji te

German: Ich liebe dich

Japanese: Kimi o ai shiteru

Latin: Te amo

put fresh air and family above
the and of or for
                      -
              work-space

                      -

Know when to stop and when to begin. Watch the cattle being herded by a lone cowboy.

         visit the petting zoo
                    pick up a Texas-mapped turtle

buy an aquarium and buy several fish,
some exotic,
and watch them grow & develop

                     The coral reef is blue and a variety of colors

                                      the deeper you go into the ocean, the darker it gets, the
                                          ticket to swim with the dolphins is only 20 dollars and on Tuesdays
                                                  the aquarium is free with a student
                                                    ID.

               Fuller
the park is free and open to the public,
you will know how to raise your child
you will know what to do when a creepy man approaches
you should know
     that
     jumping off the diving board into the
deep end and buying a fancy car is worth it, but ultimately, know when it’s time to come back home, you know, before it
gets too dark.

Part ll

A Shadow
                     Distributed

                                   Pushing against the wall

Another petting zoo
                                  a bathtub with a single fish in it
                                     a piñata-store
                                          a dream of a mother handing me her child

All of yesterday I looked back, I spent the entire day laying
in bed. It is late at night and I am alone. There is

— The End —