Three Poems: Dedications / Divination, Photography, Labyrinth / Pirates

Dedications

To my enemies:  

a face-à-face.  

To insomnia:  

pears or apples, a carrot.  

To landscapes:  

a white South African security guard asleep 

in a Kimberly diamond mine.  

To classrooms:  

a clock, the sobriety of water.  

To distance:  

what I remember about Omar, 

the brightness of a sweaty, naked body.

a stealthy light deep within my pupils.  

To love:

a truce, and then another truce.

Divination, Photography, Labyrinth   

First Movement: The Divination

I am / you are / we are:

This hemlock teardrop, if it makes 

you love me a little longer / this fractured foam / 

this island continent of death / this wavering weakness / 

this burning carousel / 

this casting of lots.

Second Movement: The Photography

I am / you are / we are:

This uncertain space in the still-relief

of birds / this song coming off the fused pistil 

of a violet tulip / this deep blue shawl 

carefully extended over fretful 

grey waters / this Styrofoam abstract 

on the sidewalk.

Third Movement: The Labyrinth

I am / you are / we are:

This moss-mouth morning after / this caribou moss / 

this mossback turtle / this perennial moss / this Irish moss / 

this haircap moss / this split-tooth moss / this no fruit moss / 

this water-measuring moss / this flat moss /

this Spanish moss / this fucking flea moss.

Pirates 

“Somalia, since you know how to kill, 

you should learn how to die.” 

K’NAAN

there’s a chorus 

in the crack 

near the center of my 

large hips 

call it 

pirates dans le Caraïbes 

call it Mogadishu 

Port-au-Prince or New York City 

it’s only a crack 

call it anything you want 

it’s on the moon wavin' 

Somalia 

© Sergio A. Ortiz: Published in Journal of Truth  or Consequence, March 13, 2010