Sao Paulo

Poetry from the top of the dome, those who it's for know it well.

Poem 1:

From my chest to the breasts
every syllable from the wave
lengths of your voice penetrates
from my periphery
to my center piece
baby, my heart
maybe, my spirit is symbolic
of cymbals rushing down your wave
lengths like
water to your fiending lips

Poem 2:

Arms folded
ending the stroking of the finger tips
once molded
onto knots of human shoulders until
they untangle
but the pain is
residual
and it'll penetrate like a virus

Dear my loves,

I'm back to the mental space where I can write mediocre little poems which means I'm at a good place. There's so much about Viet Nam, about care, about friendship which I should write but as I digest that, I want to speak of Sao Paulo, Brazil.

It reminds of DC. Although the city is beautiful,the homeless are laying on the street being covered by blankets. The economic, systemic, social dichotomy between black/brown and white exists. There's a beauty, there's a fierceness, but there's also a story and a sadness.

One of the things that has been missing this whole trip for me was the focus on mental health and the health concerns of men and boys who are often ignored and I pray Brazil will address that. Violence was the first concern coming out of the coordinator's mouth, but also men are dying seven years younger than women. Let's look at the relationship between social status, cultural ideas of masculinity, and of course, race.

It reminds me of DC. It reminds me of New York. The beautiful grafitti which tells so many stories and leaves a symbol of a person and his/her uniqueness onto the world. I admire the passion, the directness, the ability of this country to admit faults, the way Viet Nam could not.

I want to perform spoken word, I want to make love, and I want a tatoo. And I want to analyze all that Viet Nam, South Africa, and Washington DC has done to me, has done for me. The friends that I made with passion for all that they believe, with glaringly distinct smiles, and hilarious personalities, are people I wish I had known all my life and who I want to hold onto forever. They pushed me through four countries without "family" or previous friends.

I'm nostalgic already because I don't want this to end, Brazil is too beautiful, its pain is too real, and the friends and experiences which make me think and challenge me, I pray to hold onto to the day I die.