Historical Poems
Poems that draw from historical events, eras, figures, and cultural memory—exploring how the past shapes the present and the stories we inherit.
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The Taken: I
Set in East Los Angeles, 2025, "The Taken" is a powerful poem exploring how current policy impacts community life. At a wedding, unexplained absences—including the sudden disappearance of the taco vendor and the…
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Fidelito – a poem
Fidelito follows a young Cuban exile who trades baseball dreams for illegal card games, lost Havana nights, and forbidden love. This Cuba poem blends longing, history, humor, and heartbreak into the story of…
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Dominga Corazon: A Poem of Remembrance
In the mountainsthey found her—brass lodged in her brow,her bonestelling of her suffering. The rosary her brother gave herfor her weddinghung from her white jawbone,where her teeth should be;Felled by the butt of…
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Idir and the Three Dates – a Poem
“Idir and the Three Dates” poem follows a young man singing desert moonlight into the night, carrying stories of dervishes, divine love, and Cairo dreamed across decades.
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Zapatistas Revisited – a poem
The night is hot,and the PRI sweat bulletsof revolution.The birds of the jungleare revolutionaries,while old women hide gunsunder their skirts,and Zapatalooks on from his grave.Subcomandante Marcoson his cot,writing poetry.He writes:“I sold used clothing.In…
