affect change.

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affect change.

affect change, positive effects,
cause all love is hopeful.
affect change, positive effects,
cause all love is hopeful.
affect change, positive effects,
cause all love is hopeful.
affect change, positive effects,
cause all love is hopeful.

i don’t want to
burden
anybody
with my troubles,
but my middle class ass
lives inside a bubble
that regularly gets burst
by the skin
that i walk in,
the languages
i speak-
the syntax i select.
financially, i can afford
to repair the bubble,
but psychologically,
the burden of being brown
is bearing down hard
on me,
and this is not
an attempt
to cast blame and guilt
on anyone,
but just how i’m feeling.
just how i’m feeling.
just how i’m feeling.

how can it be?
how can it be?
if we are so
fucking free?
if we are so
fucking free?
you must be
kidding me.
you must be
kidding me.
you must be
kidding me.

love is simple-
simple to love.
love is easy-
easy to love.
hate is hard-
brings one down.
love carries
one above,
but there’s
no trust,
no trust,
no justice,
no trust,
so we get caught,
and we get trapped
inside these webs
of lies and hate
that we can’t escape,
but we just want,
just to be free,
psychologically
and physically.
psychologically and physically.
no justice.
no peace.

how can it be?
how can it be?
if we are so
fucking free?
if we are so
fucking free?
you must be
kidding me.
you must be
kidding me.
you must be
kidding me.

some folks ain’t got no time.
no time for empathy,
i dig. i’m so sorry
the universe made
you this way
that you can’t recall
being a young small child
and having an open heart
and having an open heart
and having an open heart
before the world
tore you apart.

Spring 2016.

until we all are.

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until we all are.

never felt represented by this government.
never felt represented by this government.
never felt represented by this government.
never felt represented by this government,

ever since i voted for ralph nader,
always felt like an outsider
looking in-
to a party to which i haven’t
been invited.
never felt a part of this
grand ole nation.
never felt like my interests
we’re taken seriously or even mattered.
does my life matter? to this fucking country?
where we’re all just pawns,

so i don’t fear no president.
no, i don’t fear no president,
but i fear for my children-
having to be confronted by such vile hate.
i fear for those who won’t have the strength
to resist, stand up, fight back.
i’m not saying i’m oppressed,
but i won’t be free until we all are.
until we all are, i won’t be free.
i won’t be free, i won’t be free,
i won’t be free, i won’t be free,
i won’t be free, i won’t be free,
i won’t be free until we all are.

and the million masses of voices
will continue to haunt me.
humanity is a species like no other.
humanity is a species like all others,
and this can go bang, poof, that’s it-
we’re extinct- we don’t exist anymore.
our egos convince us
that we’ll be here forever,
but no one lives forever,
and our species doesn’t have to.
the planet doesn’t need us
to revolve/rotate.
it will continue to do so
with or without us
like it’s always done for millions of years
since before it was even a star
that went into supernova and created
a vacuum to amass its mass,
and now we’re all trapped by its gravity.

i wish we understood what it is to be free
without all the convoluted noise
gathered from years of living as clones and slaves
in a cave barely aware of shadows,

but i won’t be free until we all are.
until we all are, i won’t be free.
i won’t be free, i won’t be free,
i won’t be free, i won’t be free,
i won’t be free, i won’t be free,
i won’t be free until we all are.

had such high hopes for change,
such high hopes for change.
had such high hopes for change,
such high hopes for change.
had such high hopes for change,
such high hopes for change,
but things stayed pretty much the same,
and we’re still not free,
but loves trumps hate,
so we’re going to make it out ok,
but we’re going to have to struggle
’cause love’s a struggle,

and i won’t be free until we all are.
until we all are, i won’t be free,
i won’t be free, i won’t be free,
i won’t be free, i won’t be free,
i won’t be free, i won’t be free,
i won’t be free until we all are.

¡haste la victoria!
¡si se puede!
all we need is love,
and all power to the people!
all we need is love,
and all power to the people!
all we need is love,
and all power to the people!
all we need is love,
and all power to the people!

11.12.16

s.t.o.p.

s.t.o.p.


stop-
the madness.
stop-
speaking in tongues with mindless folks
who engage in doublespeak and jargonese.
could the world just please
stop-
thinking
twice about thinking twice?
my how time flies
when you’re diving off the deep end.
could we gain some control? grab a hold?
i don’t think there’s ever been a time
when this world’s been at peace;
we’re just trying to get closer
without getting erased.
our species is so egotistical-
thinking we’ll be here forever,
like we can’t go like the dinosaurs.
what a bunch of dodos!
i don’t know
what else to say
when folks are still living day to day,
meal to meal.
how do we heal
all of the broken people?

stop-
trying to make sense
out of nonsense.
stop-
asking rhetorical questions.
you’ll end up trapped in your mind
in the world of what ifs and
hypotheticals.
just let it be,
and jump in where you fit in.
you are not your parents’ sins.
we are not our ancestors’ mistakes.
we are the survivors.
our DNA carries the strands
of a people that have prolonged
and survived, and survived, and survived,
but for how much longer
when “idiocracy”
starts to resemble reality.

10.19.16.

poor you poor me poor us. kill the poor, eat the poor.

poor you poor me poor us. kill the poor, eat the poor.

they’ve come straight to trap your children
they’ve come to put them into boxes
all in the name of national interest,
but when national means a corporation,
you better hide your daughters and your sons
before they get them assessed, labeled, and classified
all in the name of progress,
all in the name of modern society,
but what about civility,
or respect for children’s humanity.
i always wanted to be the most obedient one and whatever that meant.
only wanted to be the most helpful one.
only wanted to be loved and accepted.
only wanted to know that i belonged.
we’ve always wanted to just belong.
we’ve always wanted to just belong.
we’ve always wanted to just belong.
we’ve always wanted to just belong.

with all of these reforms,
and all these rich folks reforming, plotting,
we won’t be humans for much longer,
but assets, obstacles, or liabilities-
human capital when discussing the national gross.
man, that’s the most gross manner
to express oneself about a person
like we’re all just a bunch of numbers
here to service masters with our labor-
not capable of seeing through
or comprehending their behaviors
like we’re just waiting to break on through,
but it’s really up to nobody
except for me and you,
but it’s really up to everybody
especially you and me.
you and i.
u-n-i.
u-n-i-t-y.

today, Oaxaca burns.
yesterday, it was ayotzinapa and baltimore,
the indian ocean,
paris, orlando, western africa, chile, brazil, and the middle east.
tomorrow, it’ll be chicago,
and the rise of the robots reducing the masses
to a servant class
unless
we educate, but the state proclaims,
“fuck that! eradicate the teachers!”
wake up, wake up, wake up
till my fuckin’ head hurts.
i’m so fuckin’ woke,
but how do thoughts and words become action?

till songs and poems become manifestos.
till songs and poems become manifestos.
till songs and poems become manifestos.
till songs and poems become manifestos.

till songs and poems become manifestos.
till songs and poems become manifestos.
till songs and poems become manifestos.

06.22.16.

crumbling ivory towers.

crumbling ivory towers (continents are just big islands).

wisdom means nothing on an island.
so isolated from the heart is the mind,
and if it takes more time,
well, i don’t really mind
as long as at the end, we get it right.

why are we in such a hurry?
always in such a rush?
to collapse and crash?
get it over with?
but there’s so much more to this,
so much more to this life of ours.
reach for stars and melt the bars.
live like lions instead of cowards.
free the earth. remove the chains.
expand your love. release the pain,
and start to look at everything
with new eyes. see through lies.
you realize time’s a device
to keep one occupied,
but there’s so much more to this.
there’s so much more to this.

wisdom means nothing on an island.
so isolated from the heart is the mind,
and if it takes more time,
well, i don’t really mind
as long as at the end, we get it right.

let’s do something that matters-
something that makes a difference.
let’s be that difference,
and bring about the change
we’ve been promised for so long
by politicians, pastors, preachers, ministers, and teachers.
bob dylan said it’d be blowing in the wind
for the times, they are changing.
and once we were slaves, now we are free.
once were the subjects, now let’s run these schools,
and educate ourselves to learn-
not to be assessed in order to pass
when life’s the most important test,
which can only be assessed
and evaluated through our collective happiness.
please excuse my arrogance.
please excuse my arrogance.

wisdom means nothing on an island.
so isolated from the heart is the mind,
and if it takes more time,
well, i don’t really mind
as long as at the end, we get it right.

07.30.14.

untangling trauma

untangling trauma.

i’m the rock and the hard place,
so all be damned
when we blindly follow along
just to get on,
just to get by-
choose to live a lie
haunted by an eternal question:
why?

writing is easy,
but singing is hard.

let me put all of my words within a box.
i hope you let me fill it all up with all of my dreams
within these four walls,
so we can create our own universe.
you know we can imagine a different way. a better way
that would be our own.
we think we’re so grown,
but still act like little kids-
afraid of forming opinions
for fear of opposing ones.

when i was 16,
i used to be so angry.
who am i kidding?
i’m still fucking angry.

but i don’t want to be so angry
for the rest of my life.
i got a son who means the world,
deserves the world, and with a fucking smile
even when i’m not feeling up to it.
he deserves the best of whatever world we can invent.
try to battle out all of my demons,
so as to not have to repeat them,
or transmit them to him.
i want him to be free of all of my emotional baggage.
i don’t want society to place limits for him-
for how high the ceiling should be,
but then neither should I.
i mean i gotta try
to see the light,
and make the world bright
with illuminated sentences and phrases.
i mean i’m not that little kid anymore,
and the weight of my past should not burden me.
if i’m to become the type of parent i want to be,
i can’t be
of the lonely lost dark empty anymore.
i’ve got friends, a son, and wife,
and soon we’ll have a daughter.
i’m not so lonely anymore,
or even lost.
perhaps a bit out of touch,
but it’s not so dark
inside of my heart.
some space’s opened up,
and it’s growing each day.

07.16.14.

cuando las leyes se escriben (when laws are written).

cuando las leyes se escriben.

mira, mira como cai,
el pueblo se tira,
y la mentira se estira.
la mentira se estira.

aquí no habra espacio
pa’ que existan
todos los pueblos
siempre unidos?

a que este mundo tan confundido.
queremos vivir en paz,
pero con tantas guerras-
pues ya no se puede.

y donde cabremos
dentro de este sistema sin frenos?
en donde acabaremos
si nunca se nos ha tomado en cuenta
cuando las leyes se escriben
y se las inventan?

mira, mira como cai,
el pueblo se tira,
y la mentira se estira.
la mentira se estira.

yo no llegue,
a mi me trajieron para acá,
y yo no escoji en donde nací.
soy ciudadano del mundo.

yo decido
como me identifico,
en que idioma me explico,
y con que lengua describo
a el universo que exploro
al soñar y al despertar.

al soñar y al despertar
salgo siempre a navegar
con un plumón y mil palabras
traigo ojos como una cámara
para no olvidar.
para ya no olvidar.

mira, mira como cai,
el pueblo se tira,
y la mentira se estira.
la mentira se estira.

07.09.14.

listen to the track here on soundcloud.

translation:

 when laws are written.

look, look how it falls,
the people cower,
and the lie stretches itself.
the lie stretches out.

there must not be room here
for all of the people
to exist
always united?

oh what a world, so confused.
we want to live in peace,
but with so many wars-
well, we can’t anymore.

and where will we fit
within this system without brakes?
where will we end
if we’ve never been taken into account
when the laws are written
and they get invented?

look, look how it falls,
the people cower,
and the lie stretches itself.
the lie stretches out.

i didn’t come,
they brought me here,
and i didn’t choose where i was born.
i am a citizen of the world.

i decide
How i identify myself,
in which language i explain myself,
and with what tongue i describe
the universe, which i explore
while i’m dreaming and awake.

while i’m dreaming and awake,
i go out and navigate
with a pen and a thousand words,
with my eyes like a camera,
so i don’t forget.
so i won’t now forget.

look, look how it falls,
the people cower,
and the lie stretches itself.
the lie stretches out.

translated 07.15.14.

vengo viniendo.

vengo viniendo.

vengo venir, sin nada que añadir.
¿como se dice lo que no se habla,
en una tierra lejana,
que a veces ni se le entiende
lo que esta escrito
en la pared?

el mar no se acaba
pero el agua pa’ beber si, y
con ácidos esta cayendo
del cielo.
¿y quien se la ira tomar?-
pues el pobre indígena
que vive lejos de la cuidad
porque a el no le venden
agua embotellada.
todavía no ha llegado
la gran tecnología
con su civilización
de armas y guerras
tan avanzadas con sus
computadoras.
pero a el pobre no le
falta nada,
solo que el rico lo deje
trabajar
sin tanto chingar, sin tanto hostigar,
sin tanto robar, sin tanto robar.
porque al final, al pobre no se
le deja nada.
no le dejan nada.

vengo, viniendo y no traigo nada
mas que unos sueños
y unas pocas hojas de papel con poemas
que no dicen nada.
mas bien despegan mi pobre alma.
y por aquí todo con calma
que no esta pasando aquí nada.

no mas lo que sobra.
no mas lo que sobra.
yo por eso estoy con los zapatistas.
desde chicago,
me alineo con el indígena
que al fin y al cabo
mi piel esta igual de morena.
con tanto que decir
pero sin palabras para hablar.
el mar es tan profundo
que no dejo de soñar
en otro mundo
con mas justicia
y libertad verdadera-
no cualquiera porquería
que nos quieran vender
por la tele.

vengo, viniendo y no traigo nada
mas que unos sueños
y unas pocas hojas de papel con poemas
que no dicen nada.
mas bien despegan mi pobre alma.
y por aquí todo con calma
que no esta pasando aquí nada.

yo me quedo con los míos.
tu te quedas con los tuyos,
y al final nos quedamos
todos solos y aislados.
porque no mejor diseñar
un mundo en donde se puedan
vivir los dos-
los tuyos y los míos.

vengo, viniendo y no traigo nada
mas que unos sueños
y unas pocas hojas de papel con poemas
que no dicen nada.
mas bien despegan mi pobre alma.
y por aquí todo con calma
que no esta pasando aquí nada.

05.12.14.

 
 
 

i come, am coming.

i’ve come while coming without anything to add.
how does one say what we do not speak,
on a far away land,
where sometimes, we can’t even understand
what is written
on the wall.

the sea never ends,
but our drinking water will, and
with acids, it’s falling
from the sky.
and who’ll drink it then?-
well the poor indigenous
that live far from the city
because they do not sell
bottled water to them yet.
this great technology
has yet to arrive
with its civilization
of weapons and wars
so advanced with its
computers.
but the poor don’t really
need more,
but for the rich to let
them work
without always bothering, without always harassing,
without always robbing, without so much theft.
because in the end, the poor
are left with nothing.
nothing is left for them.

i come, am coming, and i bring nothing
except for some dreams,
and a few sheets of paper with poems
that don’t say anything,
but rather unglue my poor soul.
around here, everything with calm
because nothing is happening.

just what is left over.
just what is left over.
that’s why i’m with the zapatistas.
from chicago,
i align with the indigenous
because in the end
my skin is just as brown.
with so much to say,
but without words to speak.
the sea is so deep
that i can’t stop dreaming
of another world
with more justice
and true freedom-
not any kind of junk
that they want to sell us
on tv.

i come, am coming, and i bring nothing
except for some dreams,
and a few sheets of paper with poems
that don’t say anything,
but rather unglue my poor soul.
around here, everything with calm
because nothing is happening.

i will stay with mine.
you will stay with yours,
and in the end, we’re left
all alone and isolated.
why not rather design
a world in which
both can live-
all of yours and mine.

i come, am coming, and i bring nothing
except for some dreams,
and a few sheets of paper with poems
that don’t say anything,
but rather unglue my poor soul.
around here, everything with calm
because nothing is happening.

english translation 11.20.15.

¿quien éramos?

¿quien éramos?

ya, ya, ya paso,
y éramos, éramos…
¿éramos quien?
¿éramos quien?
¿quien éramos?

quiero sentirme
dueño de mi destino.
quiero sentirme
libre pa’ poder soñar,
pa’ poder escribir,
dibujar, y escapar.

yo quiero crear el mapa
por cual voy a viajar.
quiero que mi camino
se presente al caminar,
y que todas las estrellas
me iluminen al andar.

quiero ser mas que esclavo-
simple obrero o trabajador,
y no es por miedo al trabajo,
si no el miedo a perder.
¿quién soy yo? ¿quién soy yo?
soy un niño que perdió sus alas,
y ya no voló, y ya no voló.

ya, ya, ya paso,
y éramos, éramos…
¿éramos quien?
¿éramos quien?
¿quien éramos?

vámonos por allí
para ver lo que hay,
y que nos encontramos.
¿qué nos encontramos?
porque toda la vida
teníamos pensado
pasárnosla de vagos
por allá en puerto escondido
con unos italianos que nos encontramos,
tomándonos unos mojitos,
y hablando de filosofía
o política izquierdista.

quiero sentirme
dueño de mi destino.
quiero sentirme
libre pa’ poder soñar,
pa’ poder escribir,
pintar, hacer música,
bailar y dibujar,
pensar y diseñar
un nuevo mundo
y escapar, y escapar,
y escapar, y escapar.

ya, ya paso,
y éramos, éramos…
¿éramos quien?
¿éramos quien?
¿quien éramos?

09.27.13.

English Translation
(06.30.2015)

who were we?

there, there, there it passed,
and we were, we were…
we were who?
we were who?
who were we?

i want to feel
master of my fate.
i want to feel
free to dream,
be able to write,
draw, and escape.

i want to create the map
by which i will travel.
i want my path
to arise while walking,
and that all stars
illuminate my wandering.

i want to be more than slave-
simply a worker or laborer,
and it’s not from fear of work,
but the fear of losing.
who i am? who i am?
i’m a boy who lost his wings,
and no longer flew, and no longer flew.

there, there, there it passed,
and we were, we were…
we were who?
we were who?
who were we?

let’s go by there
to see what’s there,
and what we can find.
what do we find?
because our whole life
we’d planned
to live as vagabonds
over there in puerto escondido
with some italians we’d found,
drinking a few mojitos,
and talking about philosophy
or leftist politics.

i want to feel
master of my fate.
i want to feel
free to dream,
be able to write,
paint, make music,
dance and draw,
think and design
a new world
and escape, and escape,
and escape, and escape.

there, there, there it passed,
and we were, we were…
we were who?
we were who?
who were we?