Poems of Color

 Recipe for a sizzling diaspora

   —to be served hot and cool (for Dizzy and Chano)

Take the freshest ingredients
Toss them
   in a boat
Strip
   away any unnecessary connections
Spread
   far apart
Sun dry
   for centuries
Marinate
   with salt tears

this receta es un chiste
this receta es tan triste
this receta es un chiste
this receta es tan triste

Turn on the fire
Put the kettle or the pot on
   whichever is blacker
Mix in Southern spices with Cuban rum
Blend together
Stir
   until heard
Bring to a boil

this receta es un chiste
this receta es tan triste
this receta es un chiste
this receta es tan triste

Add Manteca
Simmer
Chill
   then serve

N-words and Upwards

Claim this,
you,
rap
not-a-musician so-called
artist,
and you who
would be comical,
it’s time
to recognize
that refusing to look
inwards is crazy
that now has been the time
for too long
and to get from yesterday to tomorrow
a mighty burden is our present
lifting ourselves upwards
begins with turning inwards 

Inward, please

From our beloved struggles
we have to accept that inwards ain’t crazy

...and by the way
if you ever say
that nigger’s crazy
say it like you mean
that is one man
who won’t die laughing at himself
that is one woman
who can say no when
everybody else is saying yes

N-word, please

if you ever say nigger
say it like you’re talking about some
body
not some
thing

say it like you know the difference
between down and out,
like you know the connection
between inwards and upwards
like you would be privileged
to have met the first nigger
who spoke English well enough
to call himself that
without thinking himself that