you are falling
sun shine miracle
your lips are wet
rain
to our hearts
floods in every opening
on the stoop your skirt rises
fingers go up your legs
you are falling in the streets
the hallways of east harlem
the dark hallways of east harlem
the dark hallways with mattresses
of east harlem
you are falling
roll with us
the avenues
you are falling
the night
queen of the earth
you are falling
on us with lips
& thighs
& big round breasts
we hold in our hands
& hear your bomb tick
your blood get hot
come out
crack your eggs
on stupid american heads
queen of the earth
push us to the walls
fall on us
kill us
with your love
& tongue
harlem queen
fine mama
sprinkle us with it
there are no bargains
pure product
you are falling
bloom bloom
you got all
sing
dark
& you shine
grown fat
for love
in the dark
you are like
a volcano
with a sea
of heat
explode
you are falling
explode
Victor Hernández Cruz, "Glow Flesh" from Maraca: New and Selected Poems: 1965-2000. Copyright © 2001 by Victor Hernández Cruz. Reprinted with the permission of Coffee House Press. www.coffeehousepress.org.
Source: Maraca: New and Selected Poems: 1965-2000 (Coffee House Press, 2001)
Discover this poem’s context and related poetry, articles, and media.
Poet
Victor Hernández Cruz
b. 1949
POET’S REGION
U.S., Mid-Atlantic
Subjects
Race & Ethnicity,
Social Commentaries,
Love,
Cities & Urban Life,
Relationships,
Desire,
Infatuation & Crushes
Poetic Terms
Imagery,
Free Verse,
Ode,
Metaphor
Victor Hernandez Cruz was born in Aguas Buenas, Puerto Rico. He moved to New York City with his family when he was five years old, but he didn’t start learning English until two years later when his family bought a television set. He started writing poetry early and at seventeen self-published his first book, Papo Got His Gun! And Other Poems, on a mimeograph machine. Since then, more than a dozen collections of his poems—among . . .
Continue reading this biography
Poems by Victor Hernández Cruz
Poem Categorization
SUBJECT
Race & Ethnicity,
Social Commentaries,
Love,
Cities & Urban Life,
Relationships,
Desire,
Infatuation & Crushes
POET’S REGION
U.S., Mid-Atlantic
Poetic Terms
Imagery,
Free Verse,
Ode,
Metaphor
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