Proof of Life

Do you know what I want? I want justice - oceans of it. I want fairness - rivers of it.
That's what I want. That's all I want. –Amos 5:24

I don’t want to talk about my fickle prostrate,
or the lowball offers for my bike listed on eBay,
or about a white cop that was finally found guilty of
murder.
So instead, let’s discuss the tip of an iceberg,
and how 90% of its body is rooted underwater,
submerged and suppressed like generations of voices
while the other 10% is kinda like a raised fist saying
I’m still here.
But I don’t want to talk about math.
So instead let’s talk about
the chasm between facts and opinions
and the different ways to define
the space between
figurative and literal
tighten and twist
noose and neck.

There are days I get so angry I just wanna
scream and scrub the stain from my skin
because the residue from my divorce
can still be found dripping off on my fingertips
and bleeding into my days and on a similar note,
I’ve always maintained the saddest day of the week
is always the day after
because that’s when you’ve had time to think
and evaluate which pieces are too plentiful
to ever be
picked back up.

We do the best with what we can and call it
learning.
We hug our own bodies tight and call it
damage control.
The sun rises again and shines on our faces
and we are fortunate enough to be greeted
with another opportunity to mess up again,
or another chance to speak life
into what we thought we’d already
murdered,
and we all shine and melt into
tomorrow.

Daniel Romo is the author of Moonlighting as an Avalanche (Tebot Bach 2021), Apologies in Reverse (FutureCycle Press 2019), When Kerosene’s Involved (Mojave River Press 2014), and Romancing Gravity (Silver Birch Press 2013). He received an MFA from Queens University of Charlotte, and he lives, teaches, and bench presses in Long Beach, CA. More at danielromo.wordpress.com