no need to claim what i is....

Tipico Trademarked

How many coquis will have to be sacrificed

how much coquito will I have to guzzle

will I have to bathe every scar in Bacardi

drown my depression in Don Q

tattoo Vaya and Punto across my knuckles

memorize every Marc Anthony

flow with Frankie Ruiz

ain't we all searching for  that cura

but Miky showed me

no bodeguero will sell you a dream

much less give you a loose on credit

torture myself until my artist credentials

are certified by the latinati gatekeepers

perfecting my code switching Bronx Acento

with no barbed wire fences between the barrio

and academy forcing us to define ourselves

until every other Boricua is the enemy

they don't agree with  your prescription

for Puerto Rico's future

still confined to hidden history unpublished

so pieces of Pa'lante

have perished cherishing beach front

Florida condos far from the puercos bajando

overcooking a well done stake in silly game

to claim whoever has been closest

to the creators of that la carreta lane

mira maestro

Professional Development

How can you develop

As a professional teacher

When nowhere in the conversation

Is how this affects poor children

Barely can follow directions

And you expect a lifeless machine

To give them all the answers

When none of the knowledge is real

Not applied to future human contact

Where in the contract does it say

Students become the objects of their education

Slice off top half off brain

And pour books into lovely lobotomy

So much monotony of point and click

When the point is to sit instead of take a stand

Easy to understand who sees over you

Want the easy identification

Can examine your soul with 10 True and False

Initiative to instigate fuse ignited

On hot cheeks with dynamite

About to explode all over buns

No fund you can trust

When culture becomes cookie cutter

No mention of hot peas and butter

After school conversations

About bringing yo ass straight home

So we constantly know your whereabouts

Whenever you blink there isn’t enough time

To think about brink of insanity

Tiptoeing the edge without knowledge

Of gravity forces conspiring to bring

You down to uncomfortable concrete

Cemetery stellar highlights

As a dropout who denies personal responsibility

Blaming a victim

In foggy mirrors copywritten

Impersonation of teacher facilitating

Learning in digital age with unlimited divide

How can we rebuild the chasm

Zenith to abyss plummet to summit

Vomit your textbook raps

With plagiarized facts

Never got a chance

To check the sources with credible elders

Whose pores breathe freedom

Brilliant mysteries

Kept as dusty histories

Recognize your privilege

To ever ask Why?

On a quest for truth

Please don’t disrespect

My intelligence

Or try to spit in my 3rd eye

any longevity?

“…because you figure/you gonna older/way longer/than you gonna be younger.”

                                        -Sheek Louch                                                   

make sure to get copies of medical records

from here going forward tragic irony

brown people have Vitamin D deficiency

when our skin naturally absorbs the most sun

migrated to places where soul is frozen

every breath used to warm up the inside

provide oxygen to bring words outside

we have given ourselves unhealthy habits

in a quest to find original tribe

how can the blood be fine

when after a shower still feel dirty

are we worthy of prosperous dreams

needing to move nihilism

trapped in our own prisons

won’t release brothers

rather slowly bleed than heal leaking wounds

call that love

when you would light a dub

but wouldn’t break bread for some grub

get you in the club

but won’t shield you from a stomp or slug

am I my brother’s reaper

feeding him poison instead of power

getting saucy is sweet

but better when brain is all sour

hard to build a nation

when you can’t lay enough bricks to construct

non cipher negativity

leaves you ready to self destruct

reluctant to realize until pitiful gritty

run in front of everywhere you can’t run from

objective opinion declaring truth about your dominion

why do you let your holy temple be scarred and tagged

faded murals in your lungs

leaving mausoleum for memories

waiting to be resurrected and remembered

from a gaseous graveyard

hope floats along

a clogged up tapon

flowing through palpitations in Corazon

love takes 3 day weekends there occasionally

but no longer because stress made the rent too high

brain been occupied by youthful fantasies

that will never come true

too lazy to argue

just sulk and lean

until sunset drops on forgettable dreams

still clinging underneath eyelids

curious if you just peek

will motivate the muscles atrophied by inaction

towards experiencing the satisfaction of redefinition

witnessed up close manifested a miracle

hunger irresistible

convincing you something must

be happening

with that lump in your jaw

I'm sorry

Lo Siento
Must make up for past transgressions
Prior trespasses forbidden to remember

Mere mention brings instant giggles
Rushing to get your teeth scraped

How much plaque you got behind your wisdom
Keeping your language outta control

Please back up
I’m not comfortable with your fresh

Make a move or take your sweet time
Wasting away being a breath of stale air

Mad baggy and tight at the same damn moment
Superior mumbling interior crumbling

Accent on the wrong syllable
Particular criminal speaking slang
Without understanding the origins

No need to prove yourself
Keep those stories quiet

Let your actions speak at loud volume
Could never be contained by surrounding sympathies

Please grind as quick as you please
Disarm the invisible enemy

Confused by your guerilla tactics
Contacted by divine spirits

Takes plain courage to sell candy for chump change
In the face of invisibility ignoring you

Daring you to stake claim for recognition
Don’t ever forget what is the purpose

Open and close your own eyes
Make and sleep in your own bed

Make wise decisions
No need to ever be nervous

funny how time flies

When you think of grub
Not visiting your hungry belly

Far from full enough
To kill the hambre momentarily

Vary the degrees drop to current temperatures
Wheeling revealing brand new paths

Must hold hands to gain proper direction
Wobbily when taking first breaths
First steps first run first words first statement

Declaring human existence recognition
From the breeze swaying away you stride

Create another adventure laugh story to tell
Writing around the details allow you to

Process the hidden actions kept secret
Until connection follows the perception

Of where you need to be achieving
Different techniques so you could apply your therapy

Only memories remain
Next to evaporated blood stain

Perpetual waves because the waters so choppy
Stop and proceed only as quickly as your quack

Make you a quake shaking the ground
Soon to swallow you up whole

Smile is all you can control

reality is duality

How does it feel looking through the veil

Mostly cloudy obscure bulletproof glass reflection

Behind fried food in front of fanatical freedom

Too much America blanca not enough brown Latinos

Yet sometimes poquito is just enough

Sofrito suave never rough as it blends the spices

Sensory memory still got the melodies

Bassline right underneath tongue right

Razor sharp redefinition rewriting

Claims to authenticity based on

Handed down horrorscopes focused

Assassinating any attempt to overcome apathy

Ever after hardly happily more like tragedy

Right before understanding shortcomings

Of country conditioned by conquerors

What is the leftover you were saving to throw away

Today’s possibility faded soon as sunset parked in sky

Night time will reveal all the details hidden

Didn’t think your stories could be written

So crowd could listen to visions

Putting you somewhere different

Paranormal position opposite of ultra regular

Must think better of self than exotic muck

Stop selling short

So quick to go broke

Where is that heavenly buck