We Treat the Dead Better Than the Living
It is hard seeing scars cut across graveyards
Stretched over the life span of manicured lawns
When we love the land they’re on the way we loved them gone
Our memories hold them fondly
Stones polished
Dipped lightly
In precisely cut sunlight patches
Over the grass that is carefully managed by an aged man
A master of lifting dead things from select places
And pieces of dried leaves and crunchy twigs
Chewed by clocks and seasons
With the ravenous teeth of time always leaving
Dirt holding contents in the womb of earth
Cursed with the prospect of having a still and silent birth
Sea of seed holding mysteries deep in the still bodied sleep of the undisturbed
Cradled in the belly of a memory
Planted 6 ft deep underneath Astroturf
Rested in the psalmed shade calm days and cool nights
Of the twinkling starred twilight marred by the unlived life.
Trees bend in breezes to form a warming sway
This way to that way
Blown away
The yellow of flowers adorn the green colors
As we breathe life into the lungs of the lands summer
Inviting the clearance of weathered objects
Calling the arrival of wintered silence
As we listen to raucous laughter sounds
Erupt from the cold and smiling ground.
Then we know
They haven’t gone down.
They haven’t gone down.
When Water is On Fire: A Fish Tale
Hands plunge deep
Into the skin of the oceans floor
Massaging sweet earth
Deep into its core
Schools of fish move
Throughout the belly of shimmering sea
As one despondent fish sits
And just stares out at me
The light of the sea
Is lost somewhere deep in the soul of his empty stare
Vacant hallways
Filled with trapped heat highlight his hollow glare
He looks with full lips
Dying to speak
But he is just a fish
He has no feelings
So the ocean burns to be there
And the water cuts into his skin
As no one seems to realize
There is human in every living thing.
So he sits in sweet surrender
Hoping to get caught
A fisherman’s net is no contender for the hook inside his heart.
My name is Luis Pabon a.k.a L-Majesty/Canei Holloway. I am a Black and Puerto Rican Male poet born in Bronx, NY. I have been writing poetry since being on the inside of my mother’s womb and since pen did not quite take very well to uterus, I opted for paper instead (It’s easier on the alphabet). I am clinical Social Worker who uses language as a means to effect change both locally and globally and tend to incorporate poetry into my practice with disenfranchised adults. I have recently completed a 15 track album entitled “The B-Sides” which is currently in its mastering phase. It is a melodic R&B album which focuses on the ups and downs of Breakups, Breakdowns and Breakthroughs. All songs on the album are written by myself and I look forward to releasing it soon. The motto by which I write is this: Write the poem you are the most afraid to write as that is the poem that will break into the human experience and honestly steal pieces of understanding.