Two Poems – Luis Lopez-Maldonado
Depression
the sun becomes the luna
& the moon becomes the sol
& I turn the shower on
& there you are
a white noise so loud so white
my skin looks browner than ever
I use shampoo twice
& my feet drown in bubbles:
it’s only mid-february
& already I feel christmas
will never come
I Breathe Dried Hibiscus & Hope
I breathe dried hibiscus & hope
because you remind mí everyday
everymonth everypoem
of where I come from
from the fields of California
from fresas y naranjas
from grapes & dates
from callused brown hands,
I breathe dried jamaica y esperanza
because I know how it feels
to be tender tender soft
tender fillet on fresh wood blocks
tender chiles roasting on comal
tender like the pink on my lips
as I open & you insert yourself,
Respiro jamaica seca y esperanza
because that is all that is left inside of mí
because throat fills with accidents & mistakes
because hard sky & pregnant luna
because gay thighs lock into absence tonight,
nadie wants this thirty-year-old cake.
Luis Lopez-Maldonado is a Xicanx poeta, playwright, dancer, choreographer, and educator. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California Riverside in Creative Writing and Dance. His poetry has been seen in The American Poetry Review, Foglifter, The Packinghouse Review, Public Pool, and Spillway, among many others. He also earned a Master of Arts degree in Dance from Florida State University, and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing from the University of Notre Dame. He is currently a co-founder and editor at The Brillantina Project. www.luislopez-maldonado.com
