men with wallets for brains
get to make escape plans
and leave their lineages
to try to find “solutions”
to the very problems they created
and turn off our air conditioning
so times square can burn brighter
fueled with the gleam in our eyes
“el hombre no aprende” my mom to my right whispers to herself
she hasn’t worn makeup since the nineties
no foundation could conceal the horrors she's seen
she says we gotta pray
in spanish, rezar sounds like pagar
i can’t be bothered to learn
about 401ks
and pension plans
or plan ahead for retirement
knowing my mom will work minimum wage
jobs well into her 60s
i crack jokes about enjoying my twenties
before the world begins to incinerate under my feet
my taste buds grow bitter with the delivery
subconsciously it's not as funny as i express it to be
and the ocean was on fire this past july
i spent a good quarter of 2020
flooding my pillowcases wondering why
my people are born thinking about survival
rather than pleasure
why we have to clean the broken glass
on stolen land and live the consequences
of multi-millionaires
for oil
for money
for profit
for greed
I see a river flood warning
issued for tompkins county from the national weather service
but the river does not “flood”, she remembers, unforgiving
Toni Morrison once said all water has perfect memory
forever trying to get back to where it was
if we start moving to mars
I will remain
for I was incarnated to this earth
and the land has done nothing but care for me
I will remain
and live out my days
knowing that I am not to blame
and that my hands
never stirred the tsunami
to wipe out populations.