climbing


a woman precedes me up the long rope,
her dangling braids the color of rain.
maybe i should have had braids.
maybe i should have kept the body i started,
slim and possible as a boy's bone.
maybe i should have wanted less.
maybe i should have ignored the bowl in me
burning to be filled.
maybe i should have wanted less.
the woman passes the notch in the rope
marked Sixty.      i rise toward it, struggling,
hand over hungry hand.


june 20


i will be born in one week
to a frowned forehead of a woman
and a man whose fingers will itch
to enter me. she will crochet
a dress for me of silver
and he will carry me in it.
they will do for each other
all that they can
but it will not be enough.
none of us know that we will not
smile again for years,
that she will not live long.
in one week i will emerge face first
into their temporary joy.
from the book THE BOOK OF LIGHT / Copper Canyon Press
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Photograph of Craig Santos Perez at the 74th National Book Awards
"Local poet from Guam is the first Pacific Islander to win a National Book Award"

“Åmot is the Chamorro word for medicine. [Craig Santos Perez's] poems center on healing from colonialism, militarization, and environmental injustice. . . . Throughout his career, Perez has written about the colonial history and politics of Guam, as well as the experiences, struggles, traumas and triumphs of the Chamorro people." 

via HAWAI'I PUBLIC RADIO
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What Sparks Poetry:
Kerry Folan on A Community Poetry Reading in Response to Violence

"I stay tuned in to the conversations happening in my community, and try to respond with events that respond. Like the rest of the world, my community has been watching the images of violence and reports of destruction of the past several months with despair. I wanted to offer my community a way to bear witness to all this suffering in a way that felt meaningful and respectful, and felt strongly that poetry can help us in this moment."
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