One of those unnameable days...

Dogma, Umbra, and Insurrecto by Dante Perez

Dante’s Triptych

Dogma
Insurrecto
Umbra

Wounds dry
Into scab
Words into
Silence
Beneath them, rot

We pray
to falls gods
Imposed on us

Our betters
Betray us
Because we let them:

We cringe
We grovel
We fawn
We grin
We lie like them

We betray each other

In the dark side
Of the moon
In the ninth circle

Dogma
Insurrecto
Umbra

Marne L. Kilates
February 20, 2008

Accompanying My Son
to an Immigration Clinic

The hours we wait
to be told there’s nothing
wrong with our skin or lungs
our mind or even our sex

The day we await
to be told we can enter
the land of our dreams
& we didn’t bring them our

disease. Ah, the pain
we go through to be given
a clean slate to leave
the country of our unease.

October 17, 2007

Poem Found in Phone

—did u c an angel?
—stl luking

—just saw 1
—any gud?

—yes preti
—how much?

—10 pesos. angel onli?
—r thr othrs?

—dolphin moon sun stars leaves
—wow! how much?

—three for 25 angels & all
—gr8t! get me dozen of each

—terra cota?
—terra cota

October 12, 2007


(It is one of those unnameable days, when the chaos around us freezes us on our tracks, but teaches us not to seek refuge in our art—because it is not an escape—and to look deeper into ourselves.)