by Malia Nahinu
1.
I am human
Just
Human
It’s Monday
Another Monday
And I take the trash out to the edge
Of my pitiful drought infested California curb
Filled with empty dreams…
I mean empty beer bottles
Something my pa would say
Supposedly as a joke
It used to be nice here
Come back twenty years ago
When everyone’s grass filled the streets
With beautiful green trees
And enormous yellow bees
My brother and I would run free
Playing baseball, and basketball
Soccer and Dodgeball too!
It used to be nice here
There I am
Tuesday
Another Tuesday
After my morning shower
After the pissing and the flossing
The pulling and the plucking
The brushing and the drying
I stare
A naked stare
A bare-chested kind of stare
And I ponder over
What worries the time
And I wonder what hurries
My mind
Am I living for
Money?
Or just a hope
That this fucking poem will…
Rhyme
I think about my toes
About the tiny critters that are exposed
They scream and shriek for their lives
Are squished under my feets
Without getting so little as
An I’m sorry
So, Tuesday
This Tuesday
Same as the rest
I have no original thought
I have no original name or crop
I need sleep and food and sex and…
Sometimes,
Pot
Another Wednesday
Cereal is the choice of fuel
I like the sugary, tasty cardboards
Prescription drugs
Within our food
Addictive hugs
Lased in the autopilot greetings of my neighbors
Hello
Hi
How are you?
Okay bye.
2.
Segregation in a post integrated society
Separate yourself they say
“Be Different”
Ethnically muddled
“Ambiguous”
Like a hybrid from outer space
True Alien
Where do I fit in?
Who are my people?
Who looks like me?
Who can I follow?
What is my culture?
A war inside
To define my outside
White girl
Tall girl
Small girl
Long girl
One
Two
One
Two
Who are you?
3.
Starving the
Workaholics
Killing the
Alcoholics
Mind numbing the
Shopaholics
Hashtag
#Ican’tbreathe
Through all of my
Addictions
My Breath
Holds a scent of cold death
And
Nature
Escapes the bodily form I come from
And it’s just scenery
Nurture
Suture
Race
To the finish line they told me
Think about your looks
Be proud of your culture
Be proud of your ancestry