learning to swim

Jennifer Recinos comes from a long lineage of sweat and pain that has seeped and ingrained itself in her existence.

we pretend to find comfort in labor 

touch is prime in our generation

not ours

but adopted 

adapted essentially 

to keep us balanced

poised 

controlled.

my mother cries rivers to save her hurt soul

he--alike  half fills his heart with gold 

crowns himself king of a fallen empire

though he bathes in all he has

he drowns in all his desires

the fire burns quick 

soft tissue licks his surface

the furnace is fed

with the thoughts in his head

she could only bear the children spared 

from cause and  effect 

socio-economics

the word 

hollow as its monetary value 

translates smoothly

in both our languages

none can be spared

from a house of old dreams

and a triumph of making it there

but the nightmare of entrapment from the moment stepped in

and to bear three Americas gender-neutral

3 lucky wishes

turned fishes to flip flop gasp

for breath and moisture 

we arent too different

they both-- asthmatic in mexico

border breaking me in half

like birth to split and spit me out

unidentified till named and then jen-eric

her fingernails digging holes on my father

for shelter

she felt her heart turn cold in the heat of the desert

my father struck with a sickness of ambition

to save the womb of his lover 

my brother

stretching his limbs 

as his foundation loss its strenghth

she lost pounds but gained the weight of burden

the lives she carried 

fill a village of memories

of remember whens

and how now and thens that we can now share

because they made it here

grasped the land dug deep till they found water to swim

and flap our fins

fuck a republic-and

fuck a democracy

neither political parties are festive enough

keep competing

keep voting

presenting numbers to blow egos

its not for you

and if it is

I DONT GIVE A SHIT

cuz its not for me

and if anyone deserve a move its them

to find a time with their lineage

attend funerals of relatives

they can no longer remember

last seen September 

1989 

it would be fine if your regulations were not filled with hypocracy

and jargon to claim ignorance on common citizens

...or illegal aliens

and i guess im extraterrestrial and i mean that well

a compliment to be out of this world

i wouldn't  want to belong to a country occupied by selfish strangers lost in misrepresentation 

or its simple absence

and im just a fish 

misplaced and swimming

"home"

tracing as far as i can remember 

with the words "zacapa"

humming in tune to my mothers voice

following vibrations 

and portions of sweat 

from fathers forehead 

promising to return

held by white hands

in a full tank of water.