Race
Rent from DeepDyve- Race
You cannot see the milesin the color ofmy skin, cannot seehow fast the river runsand who can run as fast,cannot hear how quickprayers are said, nor howswift to be forgotten—headlights speed,speed of flashinglights, speedof feelingdisoriented,no stars enoughto recall the way,speed of havingto turn back—cannot know the workof generations gone,unknown, is done in whatI do or don’t—speed oflooking back,speed of passingsigns, speed ofnames recalled,speed of stories toldand told to forget—another heart racing, [End Page 157] set here to hurt, to laugh,to break, heart set tothis rhythm, difference,this rhythm running—speed of the first breath,this breath, speed ofthe last—in the color of my skinnot a flush or flicker,no change but whoI keep becomingwith each hurried,harried step. [End Page 158]
Jose Angel Araguz is a CantoMundo fellow and has had poems recently in Salamander, RHINO, Borderlands, and Pilgrimage. He runs the poetry blog titled the Friday Influence. He is presently pursuing a PhD in creative writing at the University of Cincinnati. His chapbook, “Reasons (not) to Dance,” is due out in the summer of 2015 from FutureCycle Press.
