A spoken word, media-rich poem by award-winning poet Ana Maria Caballero. From Caballero’s new manuscript, MAMMAL, which explores how biology delimits cultural rites. Her signature, straightforward verse gives voice to what’s left unsaid in that all-important space of home.
–
Pointillism
Not the life I dreamed is not an effective way to say— this is not the life I dreamed.
Preferable to deliver the concept abstractly,
from the distant clean of metaphor:
the curt, indigo waves of Lake Okeechobee veil drifting alligators well.
But even allegory baits trouble.
Thoughts, like gators, if unprovoked, glide by.
Better yet to not articulate— to verbalize no thing.
Or, to concede—
Honey, I love you.
You are a terrific father, a terrific man.
My nipples are bleeding from feeding our baby.
That is all.