MYTHIC
A country with borders of bread
A country where laws taste like milk
A country where I can walk without fear
A country where walls don’t bring tears
A country where hope is not fiction
A country where huger is thin
A country where children don’t rot in jails
A country whose flag no one needs to defend
A country whose heart is its coin
A country where war is naught
A country where days begin with song
That, is where I want to belong
ON CITIZENSHIP
I want full citizenship
when I die
none of this
you are legal
only when convenient
when cheap labor is wanted
when votes are sought
In Death’s camp
there is no Temporary Protected Status
DACA, J-1 or H-2 visas
there are no second chances
short sentences, pardons,
no permit renewals,
no political expiations
No. Dead is dead.
As ghost, I’ll own
the full spectrum of me
if I desire a foul green mouth
then so be it
I’ll make myself visible and invisible
whenever I want
be evil, if I so choose
or tender, mother to newborn tender
Ah, when I am dead as dead
boneless, toothless, wordless
wondering somber valleys
among drafts of shadows
when my pride is but an emerald
streak in Quetzal’s royal feathers
and my cry lodges in mockingbird’s throat
what mother of love will I then be!
Better in death to inhabit all of me
than half dead living, living afraid of living
Yes! I want full rights for the ghost of me
not just a temporary worker permit
it shouldn’t be that hard
for in life, I’ve never seen
anyone queuing up for the privilege
of crossing to the other side
WRITE YOUR POEM!
Prompt tickler I.
"for in life, I’ve never seen
anyone queuing up for the privilege
of crossing to the other side"
How much punch is in your punchline?
Good or bad, the prosaic nature of poetry in our era begs an ending.
In a joke it makes people laugh. While that is an option, there are other days it just needs something else. Read her poem again and see how you can build one of your poems to this powerful a punchline.
Prompt ticker II.
"A country..."
"I hear America singing..." (Walt Whitman)
Analyze the boiled down nature of this poem and compare it to Whitman's view of our world in this geography. How can you use repetition in just as powerful a manner with a tightened set of metaphors. Look at how carefully Claudia pivots with "where" and "whose" to bring variety to the ideas, while giving us a constant chant of hope, pathos and desire after Whitman's world.
