Poetry by Jason Soto

I appreciate the way

This world turned her back on you too

Sucked the air out of each lung w/o asking

Left you for dead, queer, immigrant child

I never really ran away from my pain

It just got caught somewhere in my esophagus

Lost beneath the cords of survival

We’ve known each other for years

Died and came back twice

Just to appreciate the way you look up at the moon

And hold me like down like gravity

You’ve set me on fire

Infinity; Seeing love in dark places

*

So much pain between siblings

For mistakes of our parents

B/c of things they could not shield us from

Absent birthdays

Broken promises

Tired working class souls

The irreconcilability of it all

We cannot be afraid to salt each other’s wounds

Always shared the same nakedness outside the womb

The same scars and traumas too

This was always ”tough love”

For brighter days and fatter paychecks

Always mourning, always grateful

Always Full; Immigrant Parents

*

Inside of me there is a desert

Broken in half by man

In it, an oasis grows

Cactus bear fruit

The snake and eagle spirits battle

For my love

For my survival

It is here for you too

If you can look past the rotting plants

There is a spring you can drink from

My love you can indulge

But the second you drink without permission

Beware for the puma will bare its teeth

And taste your flesh in compensation

Drink me, Dare you