To My Brother
and for the lumpen bourgeoisie
We were so poor.
The air was a quiver
of thoughts we drew from
to poise, unsaid
in the ineffable
world we lived in.
Sun, scarcely a penny
in that dreary setting,
every night gave up
to a smog-strewn avalanche
of searchlights, crossing
the heavens, a bicker
to buy a new used car,
a four-door sedan, a six
month guarantee. I worked
the years through, thought
I could work my mind’s way
out of there, out of needing
a dime bag of uppers for the next
buzzing shift. We paid our bills.
We were brilliant at wishing.
Our dreams wafted over the sullen skyline
like crazy meteors of flying embers:
a glow in the heart all night.
“To My Brother” from Emplumada, by Lorna Dee Cervantes, © 1982. All rights are controlled by the University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA 15260.
Source: Emplumada (University of Pittsburgh Press, 1982).
What a life. I cannot imagine living like Cervantes describes! The scary part is that this is a reality for so many people. Although many say that money isn’t everything, it can really be difficult to be optimistic when you are poor or broke because every single day is such a struggle. This whole poem is quite dark and depressing until you reach the very last stanza. Dreams “like crazy meteors of flying embers: /a glow in the heart all night.” I can admit it, that made me smile. I felt like a sappy romantic/optimist, but really who wouldn’t? Despite all the adversity and problems with drugs and poverty, all hope is not lost. Instead of going off on a tangent about faith, hope, dreams, Beatles music, The Pursuit of Happyness, or Barack Obama I will just briefly say something I have believed for awhile. Anything is possible. If you can envision your goal, you are capable of reaching it. The road may be winding and difficult, you might lose sight every now and then or get pulled in another direction, but if you can continue to hold fast to that dream you will get there. Never give up. The sun may set, all may be dark, but the sun always comes back up, there is always light at the end of the tunnel.
“You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.”
“Whether you think you can or whether you think you can’t, you’re right.”-Henry Ford
“Hold fast to your dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly.” -Langston Hughes
this is a very good poem, I like the line breaks, but the end really make it.
it really does– such beautiful wording!