1 by rosebud ben-oni

Image by Damla Ozdemir

Stepping Away with Diego Baez

-CantoMundo, July 12, 2014

If this is not Latinidad then no we are not
Post-pulling prompts from a hat 
I’d like to take a nap but now Diego’s asking
Us about summer with our eyes closed I don’t get that
My eyes never close Diego I’m sick of beach umbrellas
And flamingos it’s hard to speak about Jerusalem
When I just want to love like XO why are we 
Always looking back and pulling pacts out of hats 
If that is not Levantine then no I’m not 
Poems in which lemon drops ruin me 
I hunted for trolls in evergreen
Around 1:10 or so because Lorna Dee says
To remember Diego I am the fist of the bank
And it’s not a competition but I’m getting married
Too and summer with my eyes closed is my husband
Who wants us to be a single room
To stop answering calls at 3 am from family in Jerusalem 
Telling me it’s the end all over again that’s why I woke up like this 
I woke up like this looking 
Post-Oslo 
Post-accords one and two to be sure it’s not you Diego 
Or the flamingos so divine on the lawns with stone angels
It’s not PTSD anymore than post-Ricky Martin 
Menudo I like riding around with you and Juan and Octavio 
And Darrel Alejandro too post hollering at the wolves
Post strange ghosts in elevators asking after summatime
Like it’s for the asking 
If not for our eyes only then no now why
Why would they ever close

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ROSEBUD BEN-ONI is CantoMundo Fellow and the author of SOLECISM (Virtual Artists Collective, 2013). Her work appears in The American Poetry Review, Arts & Letters, Bayou, Puerto del Sol, among others. In Fall 2014, she will be a visiting writer at the University of Texas at Brownsville’s Writers Live Series. Rosebud is an Editorial Advisor for VIDA: Women in Literary Arts (vidaweb.org). Find out more about her at 7TrainLove.org.