"..." and "Everyday"
...
my poems
suck
the life
out of the pain
depression and hatred
that has-been
buried deep inside
for so long
my poems suck
the life
the injustice
that patient annihilation
crumbles
my poems
suck
the pits
of my belly
internalized, my politics
drowning with sky
to make a mouth
that swallows
my poems
suck
the nausea the adage
that comes from being
sober
the nuance
it takes
life
to breed
life
my poems
suck extraordinarily
they suck magnificently
the ocean
out of the drowning
I find myself
depressing
trying
to swim in
this burial
is waiting for me
to die, my life sucks
death from out of my palms
and into
...
Everyday
I wake up
is a new
poem
There once was a time
when we only had 9 words
to communicate. 9 impulses
to decree doctrine. My dad
had me on the same payment
plan in regards to frequency,
9 words were uttered and
only 9 moods were altered.
Parents expect you to take
accountability for your actions
while they take none. I unmade
my bed and lied in it. The truth,
I was accepting of those 9 words
because I had even less to give.
Time is real frustrating. I keep
coming back to a place that makes
no sense. My beard makes me feel
more maternal. My father's hands
make me forget.
The winner of a performance grant from the Staten Island Council of the Arts and the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, Thomas Fucaloro has been on six national slam teams. He holds an MFA in creative writing from the New School and is a co-founding editor of Great Weather for Media and NYSAI press. He is an adjunct professor at Wagner College and BMCC where he teaches world lit and advanced creative writing. He teaches poetry at Prison Writes. His latest chapbook, There is Always Tomorrow was released in 2017 by Mad Gleam Press. Since 2016, Thomas has helped in building a community of poets in Staten Island, focusing on making poetry accessible to all, either though the Life*Vest*Poetry Slam, The Who Needs Healing? Reading Series, or the free workshops offered at Staten Island Libraries and other various organizations.
