And if the man with the choke-hold
And if the man with the choke-hold pulls the standing man down
By Juan Felipe HerreraDecember 6, 2014
— Ezekiel saw the wheel …
And if the man with the choke-hold pulls the standing man down
Why does he live and if the dead man is gone why does he rise and
Why is there a clicking sound the sound the soul makes when it leaves
Even though no one knows and if the woman stays why is she the
Crucible the fire why is she the voice and if the voice is never heard
Why does it resound for 9 generations and if it was a teen man with
A swagger why is he still prone and if the police was right and the court
Was in agreement and the governor spoke humble facing the masses why
Are they lost in the desert infinite and if looters broke the wall and split
The wine why are they still scorched with thirst and if we march
Why does the street break as we pass by why does it not offer us Here
Take my water and if all the laws are Freedom for you for me why do we
Not speak and if that tree behind you green with its last two limbs up
Swollen in blood why does it not suffer
why
does it
blossom torches
¤
LARB Contributor
Born in Fowler, California — learned corridos and rhymes from his mother, Lucha, on the farm working roads and small towns. His father, Felipe, played harmonica telling tales of work in early 1900’s Wyoming. He graduated from UCLA, Stanford and the University of Iowa’s Writer’s Workshop. His awards include the Guggenheim Poetry Fellowship, the National Book Critic’s Circle Award, LA Times Robert Kirsch Lifetime Achievement Award and recently, the International Latino Book Award. He is Emeritus Professor from Fresno State’s Chicano and Latin American Studies program and UC-Riverside’s Department of Creative Writing. In the last decade he has served as a Chancellor of the Board of the Academy of American Poets, California’s Poet Laureate, and the Poet Laureate of the United States. Recent book is Every Day We Get More Illegal.
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