A Medley for Mother
April 2, 2021
8:33 PM
I treat my dresses like I treat my lover
We live and we'll fall together
When the air is warmer
It will be raining on the other side of the world
And we'll dance like the typhoons
From my mother's homeland
They stomp like little sisters
And middle sisters too
They're getting angrier
And we all know why
Years from now
If they're still mad
We can hide where the sun does
Building sandcastles in the room where we first met
We'll drink and dance and grow there
Until spring comes
Until the world ends
Until I feel like it
And we become forever.
Homecoming
December 29, 2020
10:29 AM
Let me in, Brooklyn.
Before my feet get any colder.
Before sunsets start at closing time.
Before we both change our minds.
West coast's mean, Brooklyn.
She fed me lies about the open road.
Her sons knew I didn't belong.
I drank one sip without you
and the truth came tumbling out.
Is anyone home, Brooklyn?
I've been away too long.
Punish me with sirens
While I stare at the wall.
Slap me with the chill of the rain
while I stomp on your pavement.
Fight me back while I fight for you.
When I land I'll have nothing left
Except everything I left behind.
We've been waiting for each other haven't we?
For Alejandro
November 5, 2019
1:03 AM
The stairs used to sing for us
When we raced each other up.
Mama said they were groaning
But we didn’t hear it that way.
Every step declared a different pitch
And when we ran to the top
We climbed a mountain
And played piano
All at once.
When the phone rang
I knew if it was you.
I grabbed on to the vibrations
And rode the wavelengths
Like you taught me to.
I heard you tapping your foot
If the phone rang more than once.
As you sang me “Happy Birthday”
I tugged on the landline
And felt you tug back.
You told me to make a wish.
I can't remember it now.
I still make wishes.
Sometimes I ask the stars
For the chance to ask you
What it’s like to be higher
Than the mountains we climbed
On the stairs we loved.
But because i’m telling you now
It will never come true.
Is This a Bad Time?
May 13, 2019
9:44 PM
I can never seem to get my timing right
Sometimes I wake up and I wonder
If waking up was the right thing to do
At that point in my life
Because what if dreaming was worth more my while
Than staring at my phone
Sometimes I walk to class and I wonder
How different my life would be
If I left my room a minute earlier
Or maybe a minute later
Who would I have bumped into
And what about
Missed conversations with strangers
There’s so much potential in every decision
Every second of the day
Comes with too many options
They are loaded
With people I will never meet
Words I will never say
Actions I tell myself I will do
But never have the time to
Or the chance to
Because of this off centered timing
But there are moments
I can feel the stars align
Like my first night in Paris
Or the night I met him
And four hour phone calls
When timing doesn’t even matter
Because we don’t feel the hours that pass
Moments in slow motion
Always seem to move the fastest
In a current that’s never steady
How can you tell me
That any of it is real?
Pour Les Romantiques
April 23, 2019
9:52 PM
When I finally made it to Paris
I danced all the way to the Louvre
and to the cafe next to Notre Dame
where Fitzgerald wrote Gatsby.
Everyone dances in Paris
because they are all romantics.
I held hands with their spirits
in the nightclub on Tuesday.
An American song came on
and I pretended I was Parisian
Mateo lifted me into the air
and he smelled like the age of seventeen.
Those heels would never compare
to my first pair of pointe shoes.
I wore my favorite leotard
and I remember how it felt.
My Roots Are Gone
November 7, 2018
4:27 AM
I fell in love
With this city
quick and easy
it all felt so familiar
But I’ve never been able
to convince my mind to stay
I want to stay rooted here
I want to slow dance
under that bridge over there
to spite the angry drivers on top of it
I want the dirt that gets on these shoes
to be home
It’s
not
home
not yet at least.
But we can keep each other warm
and share secrets and kisses under the covers
Under the dirt while our roots play footsie
Do you remember playing that game
I remember all the games
We can’t keep uprooting ourselves
I think I left a shoe in the last place
That was my favorite shoe
You are my favorite flower
I’m
so
torn
My roots are gone
Let's start over