Mundo Rivera
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Once Goliath demeanor made of two tones:chest
brawn tangled in thorned wireSecond layerhis fear
quiet-kept buried pitch barren valley we hearDirections to:
sketched across a desert regionTake this take that some
Bedouin said Sprint up this treeThe Lord is there
Puzzling journey for a Philistine warrior’s heart like playing riddles to the
center of the earth
“No puedoNo juegoNo hay tiempo“ with your son
“Tu Ma’i—”She can bean Oh father that is omnipresent play catch
in the heat for the boy’s preparing Manhood many battles
in the pitch barren valley she tells(he hears where fear—)
The Philistine is being the Scalamandre factoryProvider Warrior
Then hearty meal Lay down Telenovelas Snoozing through this boy’s history caved in
the center of his shield
OnceDavidthere were many Davids:first a thatch of shrubbery
lifted by the breezeSeconda storm foaming at the eye Third
9:00 pm “¿Donde diablo e’ta e’te muchacho? Cojone’ “ past curfew
“Aquí, tu slingAquí your shot” said subliminal Ma’s urging glove
for the oiling Bobby Faísca stickball by the schoolyard under lamppost
heady with dying light Horizonblasted with sundown rules
going down into manhood that pitch barren valleyMa’s preparing
one single battlethis boy’s historyarmy-of-one soldier
In the threshold horned intellect put onThe Lord “Tu Pa’i” is there
striking down dumb with
fatherhood:
“¡Dondediablotue’taba, muchacho
seria laultimavez!”
Take thisTake thatthe belt said
The leathering is to skinA son is to burn Fathering is to weary son Memories
are to flesh
Tear the sheets off the bedlam War-cry to the edge of it Catch the blood
when it rushes under the surface
Grab the sling before it topples its energy in his gut stretch back enough range
to cover this journeyBlameShootright in the
center of the earth
center through the shield
center of a tall historied mammoth raging glass of
emotional inaccessibility of water in his
eyes
OnceDavidthere were many Davids: last there was a King
MUNDO RIVERA is a writer born and raised in El Barrio. He has published articles in the New York Post and Urban Latino magazine and has a poem forthcoming in the October issue of Palabra, a magazine of Chicano and literary art based out of California. He is a 2-time regional workshop participant at Cave Canem and has attended artist-in-residence programs at Fundación Valparaiso in Mojacar, España and La Napoule Art Foundation near Cannes. He is working on a book of poems tentatively titled “Cuco in the Treeyard” and a novel based on the New York City blackout of 1977. He is currently teaching English to 8th graders at the Urban Assembly School for the Urban Environment in Bed-Stuy.