I am from VapoRub,
From Goya
And morisoñando.
I am from the traffic
And loud horns,
From the Caribbean heat,
And the city lights,
From the buildings
And the towers.
I am from the palm trees
And the coconut trees,
Dancing bachata
And merengue
In the beach,
From yaniqueque
Y plátano,
From tostones
And fish.
I am from Sunday gatherings
And loud family members,
From Jose, Maria, and Primos,
And the hardworking
Payamps clan.
I am from the
Madera’s baseball team,
From Canó, Sosa, y Ortiz,
From the long summer rides
To ***** Cana
And Samana’s beach.
From “work hard
Cause life is not easy”
And “family before friends.”
From Christianity
And Saturday morning sermons,
From God is good
And He brings joy.
I am from Santo Domingo
And Monción,
From Santiago
And Spanish ancestors,
From mangú con salami,
From rice and beans.
From the grandpa
Who owns the village
Surrounded by
Chickens, cows, and bulls,
From the business owner
And the well known uncles
In my hometown.
I am from the only flag
With a bible.
From the red, blue
And white.
From the most beautiful
Island in the Caribbean,
From Quisqueya y
Libertad.
I am from the
Dominican Republic,
The country that holds
The people I love and
Miss the most.
I am from the
Little Paris box
I keep next to my bed,
Filled with precious
Gifts and letters
That make me feel
A little closer
To them.

I am scared!
Scared of this world

Robert Godwin Sr
Alyssa Elsman

How many more have to die?
By my kind,
By their kind,
Because they blame some other kind
What ever happened to just being
kind?

Daniel Parmertor, Russell King, Jr., Demetrius Hewlin

Where were you when the World Trade Center went down?
It’s something everyone alive then will always remember
Never Forget! was our brand motto for American Pride

Krystle Marie Campbell, Lü Lingzi, Martin William Richard, Sean A. Collier, Dennis Simmonds

And now, the death of another is so commonplace
That we forget what and where.
It’s no longer personal enough to register where in our lives that it struck us
Only note that another life has been struck down
Add another tally to the equation
And still it does not add up

Trayvon Martin
Tamir Rice
Samuel DuBose
Delrawn Small
Philando Castile
Terence Crutcher
Heather Heyer

We are completely desensitized
And decentralized
We keep ourselves disconnected
(because we just can’t absorb,
Take,
Process it all)
It’s not us
It’s not me
It’s somebody else
Somewhere else.
Until it is
Then we care
How much can we take, before we break

Cynthia Marie Graham Hurd, Susie Jackson, Ethel Lee Lance, Depayne Middleton Doctor, Clementa C. Pinckney, Tywanza Sanders, Daniel Simmons, Sharonda Coleman Singleton, Myra Thompson

The tragedy is the comedy
We laugh so we don’t cry
Sakia Gunn
Richie Phillips
Nireah Johnson, Brandie Coleman
Glenn Kopitske
Scotty Joe Weaver
Jason Gage
Michael Sandy
Sean William Kennedy
Duanna Johnson
Lawrence "Larry" King
Angie Zapata
Lateisha Green
****** August Provost, III
Mark Carson

I can’t say I’ve never thought of committing violence.
Hell, when my ex-wife cheated, it occurred to me
And I can’t say that I have never hit another
I’ve been a kid
My whole life is designed just to grow up
But, I’ve thought of killing myself far more often than the thought to harm anyone else have ever occurred to me
Because my problems are mine;
My fault,
And I am not seeking some scapegoat

Keenya Cook, Jerry Taylor, Million A. Woldemariam, Claudine Parker, Hong Im Ballenge, James Martin, James L. Buchanan, Premkumar Walekar, Sarah Ramos, Lori Ann Lewis-Rivera, Pascal Charlot, Dean Harold Meyers, Kenneth Bridges, Linda Franklin née Moore, Jeffrey Hopper, Conrad Johnson, 1 unnamed victim

I am not going to deny that being a white male hasn’t allowed me to sidestep a whole level of *******
One day, angry white males will be the minority
And we’ll have no one left to blame, but ourselves.
If we don’t **** everyone first
If we don’t **** ourselves first

Michael Arnold, Martin Bodrog, Arthur Daniels, Sylvia Frasier, Kathy Gaarde, John Roger Johnson, Mary Francis Knight, Frank Kohler, Vishnu Pandit, Kenneth Bernard Proctor, Gerald Read, Richard Michael Ridgell

Jonathan Blunk, Alexander J. Boik , Jesse Childress, Gordon Cowden,
Jessica Ghawi, John Larimer, Matt McQuinn, Micayla Medek, Veronica Moser Sullivan, Alex Sullivan, Alexander C. Teves, Rebecca Wingo

The earth has already decided that we are a plague upon it
Maybe climate change is the natural response to the abuse of our gifts

Nancy Lanza, Rachel D'Avino, Dawn Hochsprung, Anne Marie Murphy,
Lauren Rousseau, Mary Sherlach, Victoria Leigh Soto, Charlotte Bacon, Daniel Barden, Olivia Engel, Josephine Gay, Dylan Hockley, Madeleine Hsu, Catherine Hubbard, Chase Kowalski, Jesse Lewis, Ana Márquez Greene, James Mattioli, Grace McDonnell, Emilie Parker, Jack Pinto, Noah Pozner, Caroline Previdi, Jessica Rekos, Avielle Richman, Benjamin Wheeler, Allison Wyatt

What is this world going to teach my son?
That he’s better because of how he looks?
Or what I’ve taught him:
You make yourself better.

Jamie Bishop, Jocelyne Couture Nowak, Kevin Granata, Liviu Librescu,  P
G. V. Loganathan, Ross Alameddine, Brian Bluhm, Ryan Clark, Austin Cloyd, Daniel Perez Cueva, Matthew Gwaltney, Caitlin Hammaren, Jeremy Herbstritt, Rachael Hill, Emily Hilscher, Matthew La Porte, Jarrett Lane, Henry Lee, Partahi Lumbantoruan, Lauren McCain, Daniel O'Neil, Juan Ortiz, Minal Panchal, Erin Peterson, Michael Pohle Jr., Julia Pryde, Mary Karen Read, Reema Samaha, Waleed Shaalan, Leslie Sherman, Maxine Turner, Nicole White

I work as a data analyst
So, I ran the numbers
But, these are more than numbers
These are people: sons, daughters, sisters, brothers, mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, friends, lovers.

Stanley Almodovar III, Amanda Alvear, Oscar A. Aracena Montero, Rodolfo Ayala Ayala, Alejandro Barrios Martinez, Martin Benitez Torres, Antonio D. Brown, Darryl R. Burt II, Jonathan A. Camuy Vega, Angel L. Candelario Padro, Simon A. Carrillo Fernandez, Juan Chevez Martinez, Luis D. Conde, Cory J. Connell, Tevin E. Crosby, Franky J. DeJesus Velazquez, Deonka D. Drayton, Mercedez M. Flores, Juan R. Guerrero, Peter O. Gonzalez Cruz, Paul T. Henry, Frank Hernandez, Miguel A. Honorato, Javier Jorge Reyes, Jason B. Josaphat, Eddie J. Justice, Anthony L. Laureano Disla, Christopher A. Leinonen, Brenda L. Marquez McCool, Jean C. Mendez Perez, Akyra Monet Murray, Kimberly Morris, Jean C. Nives Rodriguez, Luis O. Ocasio Capo, Geraldo A. Ortiz Jimenez, Eric I. Ortiz Rivera, Joel Rayon Paniagua, Enrique L. Rios Jr., Juan P. Rivera Velazquez, Yilmary Rodriguez Solivan, Christopher J. Sanfeliz, Xavier E. Serrano Rosado, Gilberto R. Silva Menendez, Edward Sotomayor Jr., Shane E. Tomlinson, Leroy Valentin Fernandez, Luis S. Vielma, Luis D. Wilson Leon, Jerald A. Wright

I did research to try to find all the victims since I became abruptly aware 16 years ago
There are too many
I could not discover a single database that contained a comprehensive record
No one can keep track of it anymore
I know I’ve missed people
I know there are 1000’s of people now missing people
Even 1 was too much

Hannah Ahlers, Heather Alvarado, Dorene Anderson, Carrie Barnette, Jack Beaton, Steve Berger, Candice Bowers, Denise Salmon Burditus, Sandra Casey, Andrea Castilla, Denise Cohen, Austin Davis, Virginia Day Jr, Christiana Duarte, Stacee Etcheber, Brian Fraser, Keri Galvan,  Dana Gardner, Angela Gomez, Rocio Guillen Rocha, Charleston Hartfield,  Chris Hazencomb, Jennifer Irvine, Nicol Kimura, Jessica Klymchuk, Carly Kreibaum, Rhonda LeRocque, Victor Link, Jordan McIldoon, Kelsey Meadows, Calla Medig, James ‘Sonny’ Melton, Pati Mestas, Austin Meyer, Adrian Murfitt, Rachael Parker, Jennifer Parks, Carrie Parsons, Lisa Patterson,  John Phippen, Melissa Ramirez, Jordyn Rivera, Quinton Robbins, Cameron Robinson, Lisa Romero Muniz, Christopher Roybal, Brett Schwanbeck, Bailey Schweitzer, Laura Shipp, Erick Silva, Susan Smith, Tara Roe Smith, Brennan Stewart, Derrick ‘Bo’ Taylor, Neysa Tonks, Michelle Vo, Kurt Von Tillow, Bill Wolfe Jr.

and NOW I’ve run out of lines and time to read off all 2,977 people who died in 9-11
Isn’t that a tragedy?

Leave if You Can II


I live in the house of poetry.
I ascend her stairs slowly
and leap back down.
I sit in the chair of poetry,
sleep in her bed, eat from her plate.
Poetry has windows
through which mornings and afternoons
fall, and how well she suspends a teardrop
how well she blows until I tumble / With this
I mean to say that
one basket brings
both wounds and bandages.  
I love poetry so much that sometimes I think
I don’t love her / She looks at me,
inclines her head and keeps knitting
poetry.
As always, I’ll be the bigger person.
But how to say it / How to tell her
I want to leave / honestly I want to
fry my asparagus…
I see her coming near
with her bottle of oil
and crazed skillet.
I see her,
her little bundle of asparagus
slipping out her sleeve.
Ah her freshness / her chaotic glint
and the way she approaches with relentless meter.  
I surrender / I surrender always because I live
in the house of poetry / because I ascend
the stairs of poetry
and also because
I come back down.

    — Translated by Lisa Allen Ortiz & Sara Daniele Rivera

Life was never more important or
Never so precious until I met you
You are the only thing
That keeps my world from turning blue
When I see that sparkle in your eyes
I can now see all the reasons why
At this time you may take your falls
However that is the reason that
You will remain my greatest love of all
Everything that I have said is true
I just can't imagine life without you

Bus de las 8:00, 8:04. Sol en la ventana, camino de adoquín, irregular, vías trizadas de cotidianidad; luz roja, luz verde, la amarilla no funciona, acelera, quema el neumático, 10, 20, 40, 50 y frena de golpe.

Vista a la ciudad, azul, sin nubes y seca; te incorporas al bajar, la montaña se humedece, también la ciudad. Av. Amazonas, CCI, Av. La Prensa. Abordas das vueltas te sientas, "tome sin compromiso, $1" sino me devuelve, 10, 20, 40, 50 y frena nunca en la parada. "Soy de Ibarra mi hijo en el hospital Baca Ortiz", frena bajas, viejas pisadas.

Haces fila, pagas, otra fila; firme aquí, no puede sonreír. "Espere 20 minutos", te sientas, turno WT64, WT65, WT66. "la niña no puede comer aquí" WT77, WT 78, WT79.  Juan Arboleda, Gustavo Betancourt, José Efrén, Adrián Poveda; revise si está todo bien, firme aquí, sello, sello, queda registrado. Escalera eléctrica, salida, aire no fresco, "le emplástico", "le limpio", caminas, te detienes, ojeas, sueñas. Esperas, Chillogallo - Estadio, Camal - Hipódromo, ¿y el Batán - Colmena? ni modo al Cía. Nacional.

El bus va lento a penas atraviesa la brisa, el sol rebota en el parabrisas, Av. 10 de Agosto, acelera, acelera, frena, en la Av. Versalles el bus es un huracán, y frena, te bajas, tu decencia se queda y en la calle colonial vuelves a soñar, fotografía militar, vuelves a filtrar, 11:23, relojería, confitería parada de bus, fanático religioso, sonidos afro, plaza, museo, buenos días, árbol con hojas de otro árbol. "Pide un deseo y escribelo en un pedazo de papel".

Amor valiente, amor invisible, beso beso, no puedo aterrizar, sala 5, hombre en llamas, síndrome de resignación, refugiados, reflexión, cerveza, amor, amor, $13.60. Carne salteada, ají, limonada, besos, botella extraviada, agua.

Pequeño adiós, Marín, intento de robo,   25 ctvs, gente casas coloridas, montaña, subes, subes, das vueltas, valle azul y verde, baja, frena. Cash, salta se sacude, un torbellino de pelos, en la luz, en mi ropa, un torbellino de amor, pelota, pelota, rock n roll, cable, cable, pedal, camisa blanca, botas negras, peinado a lo morrisey, guitarra, vingala, Blues, Blues, saxo, taxi, maestro, bajo, guitarra, mente extraviada, extraviada, extraviada.

In life we seem to play the odds,
To win big money, to get fat wads.

Sometimes for fortune, sometimes for fame.
I can't understand why we play this game.

Is it for the excitement, is it for the thrill?
Oh please somebody tell me. I hope somebody will.

Favored to win this, favored to win that.
Oh no the odds have changed, Ortiz is at bat.

What are the odds, the odds that odds matter?
1/1 or 1/000,000,000,000,000,000, I think the latter.

On a night three years ago this week
Forty-nine people died
In a mass shooting that once again
Left the country horrified.

The Pulse nightclub, Orlando, Florida,
A place of nighttime revelry,
Became the target where a hater
Carried out his shooting spree.

Maybe among the victims' names
Are none that you can now recall.
Nevertheless, the incident
Is one that affects us all.

It's sad when conditions are such
That mass shootings become the norm.
It's equally sad when lawmakers
Shy away from gun-law reform.

And sad, too, it is when hate-filled
Bigots boldly advocate
That the deaths of forty-nine clubbers
Should be a cause to celebrate!

Shame on them who take religion
And shape it into deadly words
That they sling at innocent victims
While stirring up hatred among their herds.

The path to truth is a winding path;
It's easy to stumble, easy to stray.
Some start out with good intentions
But then get lost along the way.

So many anniversaries
Of mass shootings to recognize!
Will the light break through the clouds
Of ignorance? We can only surmise.

-by Bob B (6-14-19)

Remembering the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting:

Stanley Almodovar III, 23
Amanda Alvear, 25
Oscar A. Aracena-Montero, 26
Rodolfo Ayala-Ayala, 33
Alejandro Barrios Martinez, 21
Martin Benitez Torres, 33
Antonio D. Brown, 30
Darryl R. Burt II, 29
Jonathan A. Camuy Vega, 24
Angel L. Candelario-Padro, 28
Simon A. Carrillo Fernandez, 31
Juan Chevez-Martinez, 25
Luis D. Conde, 39
Cory J. Connell, 21
Tevin E. Crosby, 25
Franky J. Dejesus Velazquez, 50
Deonka D. Drayton, 32
Mercedez M. Flores, 26
Peter O. Gonzalez-Cruz, 22
Juan R. Guerrero, 22
Paul T. Henry, 41
Frank Hernandez, 27
Miguel A. Honorato, 30
Javier Jorge-Reyes, 40
Jason B. Josaphat, 19
Eddie J. Justice, 30
Anthony L. Laureano Disla, 25
Christopher A. Leinonen, 32
Brenda L. Marquez McCool, 49
Jean C. Mendez Perez, 35
Akyra Monet Murray, 18
Kimberly Morris, 37
Jean C. Nieves Rodriguez, 27
Luis O. Ocasio-Capo, 20
Geraldo A. Ortiz-Jimenez, 25
Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera, 36
Joel Rayon Paniagua, 32
Enrique L. Rios Jr., 25
Juan P. Rivera Velazquez, 37
Yilmary Rodriguez Solivan, 24
Christopher J. Sanfeliz, 24
Xavier Emmanuel Serrano Rosado, 35
Gilberto Ramon Silva Menendez, 25
Edward Sotomayor Jr., 34
Shane E. Tomlinson, 33
Leroy Valentin Fernandez, 25
Luis S. Vielma, 22
Luis Daniel Wilson-Leon, 37
Jerald A. Wright, 31

at a funeral
you don’t know what to do with
your hands
you see cousins you haven’t seen
since your grandma washed you together
in the sink as infants
baby fathers and exes that stayed close with the family
strangers and relatives alike
at a funeral
you don’t hear laughter
or ringtones go off
or the pounding of kids colliding
into people’s shins playing manhunt behind stools
with candles and
scattered memorial programs
only the stillness between the body of your
loved one
in a casket
and that’s the last way you’ll see them
you wallow and think back at pictures
of better days with them and it’s
surreal
that you’re gone
surreal that there is life
after you
people sit in rows and gaze to the front
the closer they sit
the more healing they needed
and the casket is adorned with festive cut outs
to ring life
in their cushioned box
at funerals there are
solemn carpets where
young widows have walked
childless parents have walked
long lost family have walked
and big men have walked
to carry the casket to the hertz
at a funeral
the directors place dollar boxes of stale tissue that
gets ran through without letup
and when people are ready to continue
living they go over to the primary family
hug them
reassuringly hold one hand
and make their exit unknowing of
the next funeral they’ll have to attend
in order to come together
once again

We can handle the story, emperically
titles do ify things to final worth
duty craving fulfilling drilling gwanon

we can manipulate reality, believing stories

mitzvah, com-mandatory handle it, or die.

Son of play, run it first.

Win another will's way

the meeting minds agree

chabad
חכמה, בינה, דעת ,
"Wisdom, Understanding, and Knowledge"

An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States
by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

woe, chased by Chomsky,
Who Rules the World?

With my assisting intelligence alerting ideally

Hegemony or Survival - AI see, was 12 years earlier,

it's a shame you never trust an atheist Jes-
we, us Just People, spiritually minded intercessors,

some with credentials, some
with scars, all wishing
peace,
taken personally, gun
in hand, name me enemy
make me form a friend we all drama faced already
once, we made this make
perfect sense, all blaming
the sacred secrets only the wealthy have time
to use lethe
for never knowing beyond smaller version bubbles
to be in,
albeit spiritual form,
    same form type
mere words unsaid or sent as information
same form math grid
smoke takes,
and dust laden water vapour
clouds of vast truth holdings, held open,

Thunder in December, very rare

breathe,
smile, and keep, yes, keep,
like build your self an angel message, say

breathe until I think about breathing, say
init done mere, breathed used. indeed, said.
Aigotitgo

Heroic effort artifacts,
worth what against all odds

the story driven reason peace

Whose power uses
fructify my will to know,

the worth, as weight

fit to live, breathe-ing wind
here before us, forming
spit, held, it uses
elemental tools.
Hammers and anvils,
-taste a pearl on an oyster's
whole sensory system,
and think that's what
would taste good, me
own tongue can taste
I imagine an oyster may
deontology responsibility

anarchist intellectuals

nous usery interests

sorting will to become
from will to master life's uses

forests, wet or dry,
eco-desire

mindwise, no distinction
take the honor found in being

founder… in spirit, you may
imagine and find it identical
your way

through

{ afuture Pepsi choice burp}

making local peace, mindfully
imaginable, framed images
so refreshing,
culpability amelioration

the glory believers grant beliefs
the honor believers deem valued

life of many witness the trauma
of knowing how the pile of buffalo skulls
was relative to the proud poser on top,
proof per haps of the use pride makes
of the color red, when things get hot.

valiant effort's worth, in a who-ole
honor oath
to die for, idly said,
that can be smirched
we fixit in Purgatory past
by unbeliefers in AMBIGUISUS
- sacred honor of cordite breaths
- battle banner held high, prouds
- prouds can ever be, related,
- holy territory, earthy weform spirit

Shame on the liars, shame
on lie retellers
… dust across Kansas
how we won the west…
holy to feel the exceptionalist pride
bending will to winds wildest reminder

Medals of Honor for Wounded Knee,

bubbles of belief swollen
with reason
to resist the increase
in learning  

All the old spirit tellings come
to judge
every day, for what it's worth to try
- breath is free, we'll see try
umph in time
of final freeform press,
pre weform conforming not
to this world
impassing
whoops
wind, we inherited,
a decade or so ago,
gaseus weform,
we found
jesus told us truth we know make knowing
so, just that much more free,
the knowing so
of fiery trials,
come and gone, amen,
corner man kickt the bucket
sowesedphukit man, let's make a show.

Thar, Doc Musgrove met Johnny Whykill…
in  Another case.

So, it appears seeing reading that lead
to gold, bricks, not plating, led
to platinum subconscience, educated
- all sanity treasures, base metal
- after mercury is vaporised
- and a child's night is lit
- purple

we all know diamonds do burn,
and minds bloom when blown
softly while using time known
thicker, taking wading, to push
into the deepest recesses of letting

any with a will make a way, to play
when time allows, and make it a habit
-publish a possible free will proof today
a practice, realllizing we know… all at once
we can cross some currents together;
now' we all ready to read so far
so good, carry on

Yowser, yes sir,
three bags of wool, got it

refer infer Baa Baa Black Sheep
Have you any wool, as has been

used to make some sense of war,

during daily reasoning contests
against the accuser of the saints,
- the olde deluder, Satan
eh, the devil, every body teaches
every chosen people teaches
to the children bred
for use someday,
editable as
any day, is okeh,
with me,
in mind,
preposition
breathe and take breaths
while thinking this at 300 baud

back in the ARPANET Von Neuman's
child at the core of the OS, we agree

we retain edit right power agency level
in put Feynman Gate
nnn
three NANDs and how fast we type.
-exhale-
Or think, and swallow, sensing thirst,
familiar, good peace knowing water's
- this is not a storm, this is bladder mind.
near as life gets to mostly what nobody
can own the uses fructus
of us water processors

- swallow reality respond yes
- to did you take those thingsougtathovin
- garden squash with garlic salt/

medicated and bathed and shaved,
ai, ready, processed the Pepsi,
tasted the ice, so, virtually feels
so I can distinguish my old guy mug
from Chomsky's as the shame bomb

in my vicinity went off, in my mind,

alerted to a new pearling spreading

thinking wise the ways of old kink minds

pre-servant to per hap user maker minds,

kinds all mind treats kindly, categorically, we

the breathers on this a priori land, so called

earth, wet and dry, sea and land, eretz local

home to the language saying read me to you.

Mitzvah, co-mand line init
re-act, breathe, aware awake
enough
to not need commas,
back there before blackhawks passed
and we had a pepsiburp, old thought

but, who knows which pass wins.

When does practice use other minds,

watch what happens when there's

fans, mindforms attracted by the being

dddddoone, stuckey's is art, the building

the memories, of a candy store in the desert,
there it was, on route 66.

Memory lane, but, that's been done,
you laugh as you remember

we have been this close before…

better or worse, mortality wise ways
we can imagine occupying this cloud
as free as free can be under entropy

In the realm of memory lane,
Real
2:26 Pepsi, instead of coffee,
not instead of water, my nose is running

I must be hydrated,
that's a mental relief if it's true,
sniffles when it gets real cold and

something vital in the world needs
the digital effect of a  hug, a glitch
laugh
the matrix, coen, known madjalook
koan
each hand claps, we agree to post
if we both agree next time we meet.

we snap. We did, and went on…

============================
We draw a line
Just as rethought we thought

Reality RSO a toothpick in the cold
two minutes do not swallow, think
nasal in, hold a bit not to rush, nasal
out and in and on again until we recall

we were meditating hesitations effect
on peace making recollections of koi,
in the moats in Ape and Essence

the idea longevity is… allows its wish,
and its iferies otherwise as well, illth
iffing we find
a bit o' that good ol imaginary self
willth won't you think you may know

a scientific kind of love, you know,
we made beautiful children, we know

we make our minds take soma holidays
with a stretch of our literal imaginations

we live in clear text told to tickle old riddles
that pride let become infected with a need

for enforced help Sisyphus yourself day,
granted, taken and used to project

into Carlyle's cave camera obscura,
all the rage, the temple secrets so shown,

known to those invited, dear reader, mere
worth of the other mind will to make peace
work, we think the whole day's worth, peace

ably applying the lie told Eve, wise serpently
peaceably reapplied
so we already apply the allusion, Abrahamic
post Trump mindset.
On loan, lost attention spans

end up on HelloPoetry, if I say so next time we meet.