Tag: United States
OUR YESTERDAYS
Our yesterdays become today’s poetry
What mis-guided steps we took in earlier days
Become the compass to guide or mis-guide us through life’s tempests in later years
Our flood of tears that overwhelmed us as babes
Water and keep fertile our heart’s soil in our golden years
Our early attempts at art:
Our stick figures we clumsily drew and our finger paintings
Become the force behind master strokes
On the masterpiece we paint of our whole life
The notes we failed to carry when we were tone deaf
Become the notes angelic beings carry to and fro
Up and down Jacob’s ladder
Aligning the celestial harmonies
Between our heavenly residence and our earthly abode
The multitude of our unanswered questions
We asked while at our parent’s knees
Become our song’s lyrics
The stuff of our novels , stories and poems
We are greater than the sum of earth’s square footage
We are greater than the power of all rulers, past and present combined
Our greatness emanates from the Divine!
Eva Santiago copyright 2016
Keep ’em Kids in Line
You there, in that prison cell
You amaze me
You’re free
Freer than a free man
They put you away
Sent you to the pen
For 7 years
Thinking they could annihilate
And Destroy you
But you won’t give in to your fears
Yeah I know you shed tears
I feel them in your letters
You shed many tears
But not for yourself
You’re beyond all of that
You did what you did
You’re paying with your time
You know what’s what
The tears you shed
Are all for your children
You committed the crime
You made your bed
Those tears you shed
You hope will keep ’em kids in line.
EVA SANTIAGO copyright 2013
Fly the Friendly Skies
Have you ever looked up at the sky
There, way up high
Miraculously suspended
The Most amazing of inventions
Held together by nuts and bolts
Painted with pretty logos
Taking us here
Taking us there
Taking us everywhere
Tiny windows all in a row
Heads the size of pins looking out
I see you up there
So jealous of you
Looking down at me sitting here
Stuck on the ground with nowhere to go
But you!
You get to fly!
You’ve got your wings
You are free!
I look up at you
Whoever you are
Right now you shine brighter than any ‘ole star
For you have what I desperately want:
Wings to fly
Where are you headed?
Who the hell cares!
At least you’re going somewhere
A funeral?
A wedding?
You just got divorced?
Starting a new life someplace new?
Perhaps you’re headed for college?
Or maybe a long deserved vacation?
What a marvelous feat
When I fly
I lose myself in the clouds
Once I wandered into a great white forest
Stayed there for three hours
Another time I played hide and seek with a rainbow
I remember dancing with angels
Careful not to step on their wings
They don’t take too kindly to that
I have ridden on elephant’s backs
And followed the course of my wild imagination
I was six when I first flew
Nothing in life back then made sense
Until I stepped into a jet plane
And there was where I got a clue
That day so long ago
I remember thinking:
Angelic beings were my friends
For the first time in my short life
I felt like a real princess
They served me the food I liked
They gave me nice smiles
They gave me a pillow
Even held my hand when I got scared
I fell in love with the friendly skies
I told the creatures in the clouds:
“I will always come back
So long,
Fare thee well
I’ll return!”
And time after time
Though I wish to fly more often
To the friendly skies
I have kept my word!
EVA SANTIAGO copyright 2013
The Displaced
To be homeless is nothing more than to be displaced. They are no different from those of us who have a place of our own. They wake up the same as you and me. They need love and affection like you and me. What is to be displaced?
Is it a choice a person makes?
Is is a curse?
Is it random?
Does it choose you?
Do you choose it?
I’ve been close to being homeless at one time in my life. I was kicked out of somewhere to land on some one else’s door-step;only to find out I was not welcome there either. I literally had no place to call my own during that brief time. I was displaced because of my family‘s lack of concern for me. Who of you are bold enough to admit you’ve been home less at one time or another? It could have lasted an hour,a day, a week , a month or even a year. No matter the length of time,,or for whatever set of circumstances, you know what feeling homeless is like.
The United States of America is The Great Land of Pretenders. When I was displaced, I held a full-time job, I wore nice clothes, I ate everyday. I just lacked my roof. I went to work and wore the same happy face; no one knew of my plight. I pretended all was well with me and kept going because well, that is what one does in the land pf pretenders.
To be homeless mean so much more than to lack a roof over your head at night. In my view, to be displaced is to be without family. Family tossed me out;I ended up living with a bunch of strangers . I was cut off from my rightful place and role in my family. So I struck out on my own;left all those people behind because that’s when I knew I had to forge my path and find my family.
Displaced people wander about looking for acceptance and connection. I sure did. You can be a wealthy person and still merit the title of displaced soul only because you’ve no family, no ties . No true bonds to family whether it’s your blood or family made of close friends. You can own the whole world and all its treasure but if you have no true connection to another soul, you’re a displaced soul. I have met many in that plight who were so full of the pride of life and the total sum of their possessions. Yet they had no one who checks up on them at least once a day to see if they’re ok.
In the land of pretenders they teach children everything about the value of material things and nothing about the value of life. Generation after generation children are not shown to pursue love and to attain peace at all costs.
EVA SANTIAGO copyright 2013
Flavorless Salt
Too many people
Think they know too many things
Fact is they only know facts
In the end we know nothing at all
What happens when we fall?
We fall from:
Grace
Our place
A tree
We fall out of:
A window
LOVE
An Airplane
Hot air balloons
We fall into:
Arms
Beds
Chairs
Water
We fall into:
Despair
When we think things aren’t fair
Then we feel sorry for ourselves
And some one should kick us in the rear
We fall into despair
When a shit we don’t give
And we think no one cares
Then we go molly grubbing
And we stay there a while
Think it’s ok
To not one single fuck give
And let’s never again smile
What we forget is:
To give is to live
Take what’s not yours
And die a little inside
Take and not give
You become full of holes
Like an old sieve
And now life sifts right through you
You’ll have to be thrown out
Like flavorless salt.
EVA SANTIAGO copyright 2013
What if We Are the Same?
This is a tribute I wrote to my mother who passed when I was an infant. When I share it in public, I still tear up after all these years…
“Oh, she died so young!”
Really?!
Who are we to tell?
Not one of us knows
Our day
Our time
Or even our very last hour
So isn’t that declaration a bit pompous?
What if it was her time?
I used to be sad
I used to lament
Oh si mi madre paso..
She was way, way too young!
What if perhaps she DID sing all of her songs
And didn’t leave any unsung?
What if she did complete her assignment by giving me life?
What if she made her exit
So I would have a grand entrance?
What if she walked off the stage
So I could be a strong voice for this age?
What if she did her last painting
So I could fulfill my purpose and destiny without fainting?
What if she held me close once
So I could hold others forever?
What if my cheek she one time caressed
So I could with my hands touch the oppressed and depressed?
What if she and I are one and the same?
She went before me
So I can forever her love proclaim….
EVA SANTIAGO copyright 2013-2014
Death is B-Rated
Death is barely tolerated
Death is seldom celebrated
People cheat death everyday
No one ever claims they cheated life
Death is berated
Much akin to those poorly scripted b-rated films
Death is diminished
When it comes unexpectedly
Because some one’s life ended unfinished
Now, that’s such a truly sad tragedy
Unfinished
Unfulfilled
Unfilmed
Un…forevemore…
Un dreamed
Un done
Under lived
Under established
For all these reasons
And for probably a hell of a lot more
Death is barely tolerated
Death is seldom celebrated.
EVA SANTIAGO copyright 2013
Abuelita Linda
You visit me in my dream
Every so often
I reach out to you ’cause you’re so real
When I awake, I want to scream…
Aye de mi!
You’re just a dream!
You lived a full life
Your pain you never displayed
So easily on your sleeve
You never seemed to feel any fear
Aye mi linda abuelita
How I still hold you so near
Abuelita de mi alma
I dream of you still
And you come to me and you help me make everything crystal clear
What would you think of me now?
If you were to step out of my dream
Would you be proud of me?
What would you say to me now?
I’d hope to make you smile,some how…….
Eva Santiago copyright 2013
Eva Santiago 