Untitled Haiku

Boleros float calm

can hear them through the paper

thin walls sounds of home

America Would Have You Believe Skinny

You thought your rights were guaranteed and just for you 

Embuste 

America

Would

Have

Embuste

You

Believe

Pero

Embuste

You thought your rights were guaranteed and just for you 

______________________________

The Skinny form was created by Truth Thomas

Untitled Haiku

#4 Ya!

enough / i am whole

adore my | bronze skin,  tendrils

accept my black crown 

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Decolonial Love Haiku Suite

Untitled Haiku

 Untitled Haiku 

dream manifestations

poem-in-the-making #3

It does not mean all

is peace, only tonight no one will

kick down your door      Sleep

Untitled Haiku

Untitled Haiku 

dream manifestations

poem-in-the-making #2

the rainbow is safe

and all shades violet from

the far right tonight

Untitled Haiku

Untitled Haiku 

poem-in -the-making #1

burn the ripples free

& with your nightmares aflame

regain clarity

Letting Go

as an act of letting go, I trashed the  sixty-five inch tv me and my ex went halfsies on during the pandemic. I cancelled all the streaming subscriptions, as an act of letting go and to save money bye Paramount, bye Peacock bye Hulu! / as act of letting go I continue to transform my apartment into the post-toxic-relationship sanctuary that I  deserve / come to  realize I have an addiction to violent tv movies and shows—those morbid docu-series Netflix joints and true crime documentaries on HBO Max. I  didn't realize how much I indulged in lazy-hazy weird escapism and the addict behavior of getting sucked in unable to stop compulsively consuming morbid shit in order to know, to find out what happened, who-dunnit and to avoid the same horrible fate / true crime documentaries that nauseate as they fascinate / cold case files, unsolved mysteries, sad stories of missing and murdered women / my No-TV-land feels quiet and empty / a laptop visit to the New York State Police website provides the adrenaline rush / a shot of fear / cures the boredom / a simple search for Missing Persons / Click / Scroll / Click /  Yikes not only Missing Person postings of smiling and unsmiling faces but listings upon listings upon listings of  Human Remains Discoveries Eek / most of the pictures, if you are looking at New York State the Empire state that is, specifically Upstate, NY, most of the unsolved cases are actually MEN. Surprisingly / shocked to see —a great majority white men / Going back to the 1950s, the 70s, 80s —up until today /  to see more men though than women Hmmm. / totally expected it to be the other way around the way it is on Netflix the way they normalize women being murdered, white women that is bodies corpses carcasses left to rot. White women. Mostly. Black and Brown women, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, still ignored / a pandemic Unseen. No, most of the photos at least in this search —with facial reconstruction tech and DNA testing —result in postings of mostly white men / human remains found Upstate in swamps, leafy ditches and shallow graves / Couldn't help but think of The Sopranos. Did these men come across the wrong Good Fellas? Interesting yet far Less entertaining and much creepier to look at these digital autopsy results / a few happy endings / missing people found here and there / reckless teens / old people with Alzheimers  / so many found dead / it's the pictures of the missing children that hurt my heart the most / and most of what I see are want ads seeking information / unsolved cold cases — When it comes to true crime sifting through spooky primary sources is creepier than watching the documentaries on the sofa with my Uber eats, no dramatic pauses, no fade ins to news paper clippings, no bird eye views of small towns, no sharp cuts to interviews with investigators, and the bereaved, no eerie music, no shadowy silhouettes.  Only the soft sounds of my own home / my own heartbeat and the hiss of the heat coming out of the radiator.  The sounds of ten o'clock. The man upstairs is not angry tonight and the kids must be all tucked in. I  know, I  can always get another HD TV with same-day-delivery service and the prices have gone way down since the pandemic, and there are sales going on, especially for the Superbowl coming up and the streaming companies are offering me great deals dying for me to come back but then I wouldn't be saving money and I wouldn't be letting go

Caliente through the Baseboards

I.

Ay, Sounds like a warzone in the apartment upstairs, e'te tipo ta' enfogonao otra ve'  

and the babies are crying, que cabrón 

I can't hear the wife, who can blame her, why try to outshout un loco?

Ay, Sounds like a warzone upstairs, e'te tipo ta' enfogonao otra ve'  

The stomps and the silences, right above my head

The walls and floors are paper thin in this building but rent is cheap so I stay

Ay, Sounds like a warzone upstairs, e'te tipo ta' enfogonao otra ve' 

and the babies are crying, que cabrón 

II.

I wish he would shut the hell up

The guy upstairs who gets angry again and again 

Like the time months went by, months of silence, peace and quiet

I wish he would shut the hell up

Like when I wondered if he was at Jet Set, morbid thought, but I was wrong, he came back

Why does the world lose a voice like Rubby Pérez?

I wish he would shut the hell up

The guy upstairs who gets angry again and again 

III.

Color de Rosa / the song I play en loop when he gets angry and yells at all of us

Ese merengue caliente through the floor, caliente through the baseboards 

De color de rosa veo la vida hermosa y del amor estoy enamorado

Color de Rosa / the song I play en loop when he gets angry and yells at all of us

When the guy upstairs gets angry, I play my Color de Rosa marathon FULL BLAST

de color de rosa ... /After I shut the music, all's quiet on the upstairs front after

Color de Rosa / the song I play en loop when he gets angry and yells at all of us

Ese merengue caliente through the floor, caliente through the baseboards 

DisHonest Haiku

DisHonest Haiku 

Grotesque, this circus-

like boorish style of speech such

lying— All the time!

Untitled Drafts Haiku

Untitled Drafts Haiku

Untitled drafts sulk

plopped out on the page sofa

sob binging bad news 

Nothing but Love and Respect in the Abstract + Endnotes

Nothing but Love and Respect in the Abstract

because it feels safer to love and respect a self proclaimed feral creature from afar

because the word nonchalant is actually an unpaired word that means indifferent in French

because being indifferent and distant and dishonest is antithetical to friendship

because my definition of friendship is apparently different than yours

because for me friendship is a place of trust, a place one can go to, to feel safe

because for me friendship is about openess and honesty, but

because your words are full of mysterious puzzle-pieces that pinch and bite and 

because when I playfully pinched you when you said it felt like a dream you pinched me back 

because when you pinched me, clamping my skin, l realized I triggered you, were you pinched? 

because my adrenal glands sent a signal for me to be still I didn’t ask 

because your sentences are strange shape-shifters as you slowly ice me

because you're not so good at ghosting but excellent in icing 

because it seems I am excellent in attracting emotionally unavailable men

because the things you say are formed by contrasting incongruent lines of logic 

because the truth is obscured in dizzying concentric circles

because after casting the pennies on the path, the I'Ching so forewarned confusion 

because your thank you was using your dirty sleeve to wipe my lips before the kiss goodbye

because it leads me to question one who asks, what do you will, instead of what do you desire 

because even before winter came, Saturday get-togethers screeched to a freezing halt

because so did the texts, right before so-called cupping season

because so did the reasons, as you announced matter-of-factly that you hibernate 

because unlike a bear, who sleeps, you send obscure writings that get lost in my junk mail 

because if one's incomunicado, conversation-menus replacing table-of-contents make no sense

because instead of a bear, I think you're a rabbit who likes to pull disappearing acts

because of all the songs you've re-written, fake fake fakity fake is your greatest hit

because of your humor, as dry as a dried tear in the corner of my eye

because rapid change is everything these days

because of the lack of trust and lack of integrity in high supply

because desire naturally fades

because so did my desire to understand your speaking in riddles

because so did my desire to give the benefit of the doubt

because so did my desire to share intimate moments

because so did my desire to ignore the bullshit

because so did my desire to hide that I was hurt

because so did my desire to hide that I wept 

because so did my desire to read your words

because so did my desire to ignore your sardine-breath 

because truth be told I have no regrets

because truth be told better a fling than a fluke

because truth be told I am proud that I took a chance and believed

because truth be told I am proud that I took great leaps

because truth be told I still believe in love

because truth be told I love myself immensely

because truth be told I appreciate the lessons of your skewed honesty

because truth be told I forgive myself unconditionally

because truth be told I embrace the benefits of your absence

because truth be told I rejoice at your departure

because truth is I experienced life, said things I wouldn’t undo or redact

is why I got nothing but love and respect for you in the abstract.

________________________________________________________________

Endnotes: Haiku Suite on Radical Self Love 

I.

Got nothin but love 

and respect for you bro—though

Nonreciprocal

II.

Why do hurt people 

hurt people? Do they hurt be-

ause they were taught to?

III.

Disappointment is

not new or novel— I just

hoped for something true

IV

The truest love— I 

have, I give myself and with 

loving acts find peace

V

How can you expect

someone else to give you love 

you don't give yourself?

Ma's Menu, How It Was Haiku

Ma's Menu, How It Was Haiku 

Friday night pizza

Saturday spaghetti night

Sunday rice and beans

Her Name Was Renee Nicole Good

Her Name Was Renee Nicole Good

Triolet

Her name was Renee Nicole Good, she was a loving mom, a poet

a wife, a daughter, a good citizen, a good neighbor, a good human being

She didn't have to die, shame shame shame, say her name her name

Her name was Renee Nicole Good, she was a loving mom

Shame the shameless who kill who gaslight who deny

Shame the shameless with blood on their hands who outright lie

Her name was Renee Nicole Good, she was a loving mom, a poet

a wife, a daughter, a good citizen, a good neighbor, a good human being

_____________________________

January 7, 2025

Have World—Domination Haiku variation

Have World—Domination Haiku 

variation

Tis a free country 

for the riches it steals free-

ly in the hemis fear

____________

January 7, 2026

Crazy How One Can Speak of the Crazy One

Crazy How One Can Speak of the Crazy One 

Bop Variation

crazy how one can speak of the crazy one 
in the family the crazy one as if crazy birds 
and crazy lives in a hazy disjointed co-existence deep in chicken shit

such as crazed chickens in chicken coops going Cu cu ru cu
when el Cuco shows up how they'd cannibalize rather than starve how 

they derive of yolks then hatch out of eggs that had to come from somewhere loco

                                 Maybe we're crazy / probably eee

stay away from me crazy / as if there were 
only one crazy one as if there were only one kind of crazy
as if crazy ones were not more contagious than corona virus
in a mentally ill society / maybe you're crazy in more ways 
than one / in more ways than me / that's for sure / not sure where it comes from 
i was sure so sure i had it all yup I had it all figured out /until the years passed 

and i looked at the cousins —and their church —and their church friends 

                                   Maybe we're crazy / probably eee

when i saw the poetically-pretty cousin and her MC husband wit the nice flo / the parents of six, were both followers of a slick gringo who professed christian values— who said that women shouldn't be allowed to vote said Black Lives Matter eh didn't matter much and was un-american anyway, said fucked up shit about George Floyd i won't repeat / said they opposed affirmative action and federal recognition of Juneteenth / citing scripture advocated puhlic stoning/said that that mass shootings and gun deaths are an eh acceptable though tragic cost for keeping gun rights—forget about the children, who cares —alas my long unanswered questions of whether mental illness runs in families —is this craziness genetic or the by product of a sick society? got me to thinkin'

                                   Maybe we're crazy / probably eee

                               

Sleepless

Sleepless 

sleepless 

sleepless 

you stream 

you scroll 

you scream 

as you take a stroll 

to find some 

entertainment 

something 

to take your mind 

off your mind & there

you find 

no music

no fantasy

no love story

no romcom

no fake Hollywood 

only true war & gore 

only true horror

only true villains 

only ugly actors & factors

a bad script & an evil plot

January 5, 2026

New York City

Ma' Dear Blue Skies Lady Triolet

Ma' Dear Blue Skies Lady Triolet

for Denise Oliver-Velez & Black Music Sunday folks

Ma' Dear Blue Skies Lady—how we need some Black music to be happy

Yes we need to move & groove this year / eyes straight ahead & beyond babyeee

We need some bass & brass & drums/ some upbeat fearless melody/most of all soul

Ma' Dear Blue Skies Lady—how we need some Black music to be happy

We need some Black music to see to feel good, to stand up, to rise

We need to slide—to shout, spin /skit-skat and sing to keep goin' in spite of the crazy

Ma' Dear Blue Skies Lady—how we need some Black music to be happy

Yes we need to move & groove this year / eyes straight ahead & beyond babyeee

Photo by Mariposa, Poza de Paz, Puerto Rico, 2025

Hot Yoga Haiku

Hot Yoga Haiku

Standing head to knee

I inhale exhale & stretch 

 —sweat drips / dances down

January 2, 2026

Bronx, NY

First Poem 2026

 First Poem 2026

The first poem of a new year —feels 

forced contrived unflowing

til I remember a poem can show up 

spontaneously simply purely 

like a good laugh or a good cry 

never forced / never contrived it flows 

like minutes flow into days 

like sunrise  slowly sweeps away the night

of last year / arises on the eastern horizon

like the waxing gibbous moon, a light 

appears in the west, in the same sky 

appears like these words

to become a new story

January 1, 2026
Bronx, New York