My Father’s Enemies Are In Power
Y’all, I recently spoke to my father about the Mexican elections, and her basically told me he had no hope. That the people in power do not believe him, and his sibling’s stories, of persecution and torture. It turns out, one of the generals in charge of destroying Mexico’s communist movements, himself and his children, have high ranking is government positions. It’s wild to find this out.
My Father’s Enemies Are In Power
My father’s enemies are in power,
so who should I vote for president?
When the boot on the neck’s print
Remains, and the phantom pain
Won’t go away, and murderous
Generals continue to kill their ways into top ranks,
How can I vote this away?
When state violence is not abstract
And lives in the memory of my cells,
Doomed to be passed on from generation to generation to generation to generation
When even ghosts can’t haunt you,
Because you don’t know if your brother is dead or alive,
Disappeared into limbo
An eternity of hell on earth,
Who should I vote for to bring my uncle back?
My father’s enemies are in power
So who do we turn to for justice?
A deferred dream explodes,
And justice delayed boils to a point of no return,
When words aren’t simply for
Decoration, but a line in the sand
A blood pact, salt of the earth
I don’t know if this pain carries
Shame or pleasure
Violence or roses blooming in a garden,
What to do with what is unearned
But always with you
Who is my father without this pain?
Who am I without this pain?
Maybe a doctor or engineer
Thoughts of milk and honey
Love through time and space
Less stomach pains
And more delectable kisses
A passion born of joy
A rage subdued
Softness in my heart
Someone completely different
It is a gift then
A calcified hatred
Pulverized
Through struggle
Through taking care of myself
Through leaving myself open
To the power that is love
In community
Bonds held together
By recognition that
I am not free
Until you are free
A revolution
As we embrace
And we spin
Our last breath
Will carry on
In the lungs of
Those that survived
To tell the story
Of how we fought our father's enemies
And lived
