Alfer Izar // D11 // Done
Mar 9, 2017 17:16:18 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on Mar 9, 2017 17:16:18 GMT -5
Alfer Izar
District 11
Eighteen
Today
When the world awakens
And I
Feeling heady
Rise to greet it
I wonder where my heart went
Too small to know the pain of my sisters
Older than me
Brothers not yet born
So many of us living
In
The moment when we think
How many more of us to die—
Today, I rise to greet the smoke
It tastes like love
Deep and filling
My father is dead
Set against the type of life
I live
Today
We are the ones to take life
Give and take
Each moment, I live
One moment to the next
Eyes watching the sky
But I am one of so many
Cousins to say that we are all so different is
No lie, no shame.
Today
I bounce the little ones on my knee
Their smiles looking at me as though
Happiness is more than this—
And I feel
Hope is weightless
Today
Expectation
There is nothing to lose in their arms, nothing
Too small to understand.
Today
I am
Changing.
I forget about the yesterdays
When I’m with her
Her skin is water
Drunk up in my mouth
Until I can barely breathe
Today
We exchange roses
Quiet eyes
Slow and unsteady
Afraid
Wanting to see
Each other
Today
She is gone, and I am
Alone.
I have my smile and
Words to keep me company.
They will never see another
Side of me, the one that
Knows more than this
Today
Sampson comes to call
And we drink until the sun
Has embraced the sky
And we drink until the moon
Has lost its shine
And we drink until
Today
I am lost, no matter
How much I give to my
Brothers, young and strong
How did I
Become the one
They ask for truth?
And they laugh because
What better joke
In this begotten district
is truth?
Today
You will find me as tall
As six feet and three inches
One forty Pounds
Shabby hair
Overalls
Two eyes that see
When you’re laughing
And knowing why you’re not
Today
He tells me that there’s more
To us sitting under the corn
Talking about
Stars
Today
I’m not myself because
I don’t want to hurt
Anyone
Today
I tell him we can’t see
the same way
unless he has a mirror
to bring us back to
before
Today
Magdalena says
Salome won’t be coming back
That I should’ve said
‘me too’
But I
Am a coward
Today
I lick the paper
Tobacco lips and
Yellow teeth.
The smoke is
A taste of home
Today
I’ll pluck berries from
bushes and
slide between the brambles
fall asleep in the roots
shadowed by
the ones that know
I’m useless
Today
I could start over
Be up at the rise of the sun
Take the first step
To clear the field
Carry water
For the ones who
Have lost so much
Today
Is the same
As
Yesterday
Today
is
Today
