Puerto Rican Haikus
by Nicole Arocho Hernández
1.
My throat is the plat
form for a country with no
name
My throat is the plat
eau for a homeland drenched in
shame
My throat is the plat
ter for an empire with no
blame
2.
How lucky to be
an explosive, no more than
an expletive from
the president’s mouth—
en la boca del lobo
ticking down to sing
how US likes it—
with solemn screaming, mouth
bombing the nuclear
test: can you say A
merica without sparking
a flood in your chest—
to breathe their same air
while swimming across a sea
of rot desire
3.
I have no more than
four words to my name and my
name’s not one of them
I am a poet
carrying time under tongue—
unnamed, unlike is
land Puerto Rico
the violence of naming
against soil’s will
Rich port / which poet
can capture le lo le lo
lai— a portal to
seeing / knot of me
mory constellating each
body a gift a grief
Seventy-eight stars
in our mouths / we are born
incandescent, crowd
ed light until scratched
ancestral, spoilt abc’s
staining us crimson—
If I kissed the sea
with enough fervor, could I
forget English could
I forget my name
could I only remember
shame blame thirst first burst—