Poetry [I Have Watched You Wake]

Hola mi Gente,

Today at the Beyond the Bars conference, I will be part of a panel discussing the potentials and drawbacks of legislative change. If you're around, come check us out. I’ll probably say something problematic:

Electoral Politics and Legislative Reform: What’s Possible? (room C03)
Saturday March 5th - 4:00-5:30pm
Columbia School of Social Work (Rm C03)

This session will examine the current landscape of electoral politics and legislative reform in the efforts to end mass incarceration and ask what is possible? This will include an examination of the bipartisan efforts for change, current legislative efforts, a discussion of the 2016 presidential election and its relation to the movement as well as a look at how grassroots activism intersects with political efforts for reform.

Panelists

Eddie Rosario, Activist/ writer
Bryan Epps, Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center
Kassandra Frederique, Drug Policy Alliance, New York Office
Hakeem Jeffries, US Congressman, Eight District of New York
Velmanette Montgomery, New York State Senator, 25th District
Kyung-Ji Kate Rhee, Center for NuLeadership on Urban Solutions (Moderator)

Today it’s all about art and beauty and poetry, blah blah blah…

* * *

Now [no. 32]

Your sleep:

I have watched you wake --

a spectacle,

an immediate vision of honesty.

Your long legs

yawn open

and your arms reach out

for a missing star.

You are reluctant,

deserting your dream,

surrendering to the pink wound

of a new day.

And you reach out for me,

silently, without a plan,

and it is enough.

Your touching me

will always be enough.

It says what no poem

will ever say,

what no words could ever tell me.

-- Edward-Yemíl Rosario

From: Full-Frontal Angry Love Poems [unpublished]