poetry
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These are the Rules of the House
We don’t say sorry.May I go outsideto play hide and seek?The stars are darkoutside.No puedes.Ni aguantes.You are not allowedto askquestions.Once my mother said:you don’t knowhow to live alone.She may as welltold meI cannot survivewithout a man.And is it so bad?May I come with you,dear brother, please.I want to learnthe game.And in this hourno one really…
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somewhere dark in guánica bay
to reach el punto pastthe cliffs — fifty metersof rock abovethe ocean do not speed up or you will meetan untimely deathfar out, en el punto,men devouranother. an older manteaches me this freedomcalladovaronilno afeminadoscasadoven atrás el árbol,in the shadowto watch our shadowscome nearerdo not look into the eyes no questionsdo not touch the face no…
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the house on fire
Themes: labor, inherited, survival, desire, bilingual the house on firewe were made to stay insidethe borderline. safety is not beyond measureyou once said, as we cross the plains in smoketo head to guánica baywe must first pass the sunflower fieldsthe red bricks of ghetto living onceheld the sun,the heat was pressed into my backnowdecayfresh orange en…
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i am ruin // mi mansión
Themes: labor, inherited trauma, survival, desire, intimacy, bilingual i am ruini wake in a king-sized bed, four pillows deep enough to sink under cold to the touch i like it that waylike evening rum slow and burning left alone long enough,this is a bed where i could be wrecked by past present future lovers i…
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grayscale // when love demands
Themes: Love // Hope // Faith grayscalewhen the ocean is black, i pacethe long corridor of the summer/homea mouth stirs the room. the walls hum and light won’t sleep. the dark altersmy skin against an unyielding arm i should brace the furnace—but i stay, watching how we drumbeneath the skin, bodies riggedto learn each other…
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Senseless // Litany for the Broken Body
Themes: Love // Silence // Queerness // Queer Body // Desire // Bilingual SenselessMost people would’ve ghostedBut me?I call it love—I just wanted to worship the ignition,the firestarter who kissed like a loaded gunand left a trail across my skinlike something meant to burn.But here we are—tracing the heat your body left behind;you, reciting a…
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in the valley where sunflowers burn // smoke and missing father
Two American sonnets en Borinkén Themes: Family // Love // Silence // Queerness // Borinkén in the valley where sunflowers burnawake, i find wood burningin a house not too far off. palm trees bow,in prayer, but collapse. a sheet of tarlooms above the mountain’s base—so thick, it presses like molasses mixingwith scrambled eggs. a smoke-slick…
Luis E. Santos 