Elvis Alves's Blog, page 2

Garden

I sit in you to remind myself 
of the beauty around me. 

A past love said that I did
not know the names of
flowers because I was
raised in New York City. 

Her words poisonous
arrows shot at my heart. 

I knew then what I now
know, that names can
be learned. 

Flowers, like everything else,
come with labels. 

But I am interested in
nature. Essence. 
Fragrance--

(as in all things birthed
by the sun). 

What do Tulips
add to a room?

How to safeguard
the medicinal property
of...

For Victims of Natural Catastrophes

We cross the river to the other side where a mother
and child wait for the sun before going forward. Thenew day a promise fulfilled to them. And us. So we
celebrate life every day because a catastrophe canhappen without a moment’s notice. Uprooting. To
transport the will where it does not want to go.A stubbornness unfamiliar only in its familiarity,
like a counterpart that is part of the whole.Life happens with intrusions. It is true that every-
thing breaks and needs fixing. An answer that...

Black Moses

Black Moses
The man with chain on neckcrosses my path.
“Black Moses,” he says and walksaway.
I follow him, and chain.
He turns left.Then left again,
back to where westarted.
“Black Moses,” he says,and walks away.
I follow him.
But this time yell,“set thy people free!”
He stops, looks at me,picks up the chain,
and tosses it at me.
It turns to a ball of fire.             Deep in my soul.          &nbs...

Poor House

Father sits in the living room,a sad look is on his face ashe stares at empty walls
Mother is in the kitchen cookingrice in a pot whose lid popsopen, spilling starch infused waterall over the stoveShe stares at but does not noticethe volcanic-like  eruption
Sister is in her roomcrying as her boy childruns wild wearing  soileddiaperHis father beats her and the more she loves him
Brother is away in prison,modern day slave ship builtfor people that look likehimHis  sons roam the stre...

Three Legged Buddha (after the sculpture by Zhang Huan)

Dig a holePut your headin itDescartes waswrongYou are morethan a thought
Sampad

IXCHEL

The ocean speaks a language familiar to he wholistens to the intrusive crashes of her wayward waves through the long night, anxiously waiting the new day to beginso that Ixchel, with head of snakes, can appear and bless the rootfrom which will spring a child glorious in wisdom
Wisdom that knows nothing and yet, because of its very nature,is all wise, all powerful
like the sun that bathes the good and the evil
or the crashing waves bringing to life secrets buried inthe ocean of life and placing t...

DETERMINATION

For the mother who is still a mother even though she has lost a child

She says pray and I pray, pull wordsfrom I do not know where,
remembering to say God, comfort, peace, strength
But what I really want to say is rise, likeJesus did Lazarus, and watch her tearsdisappear
Make her days, years, better
But I cannot do as Jesus and so her babylies dead in front of me, in front of her,
silent as the moment before the world wascreated
and the only thing I hear, and hope she hears,is that may God give you comfort, peace, strengthto live these days, these years
dear mother....

Lucy

(for Jamaica Kincaid)
Lucy is not a monkey, orany other animal to
domesticate—make one’s own.She is a black pearl. Mother to
the world. Never someone’s girl.She is an artist in the making and
hangs out with the downtownBohemian crowd, knowing that they
too participate in her oppression.
Her island home calls her name oceansaway. But Lucy does not listen because it
is infested with coconuts and rum. PlusNew York is where dreams come true.
So Lucy stands to fall again and falls
to stand again.Jamii P...

Samantha

                (for John Edgar Wideman)
I
Matriarch of the Ark,your womb an ocean fromwhich springs life beautiful andstrong as you are
Samantha, mother to Junebug,Becky, and the others; Childrenwho love to fight and fight to love
Take my handLet us dance andmake another withromance
As fate would have it, thisdream cannot be true
You are locked away, notin the Ark but at Mayview
Your children, now grown,scattered across the...