Last night in Santurce

last night i read in the same streets  
my father ran through  
i imagine him with rafaelito,  
junito, keko & jorge acting like  
fools with all the best intentions  
 
i see them running down  
fernandez juncos posted up on  
the corner asking girls how was their day  
i hear junito be loud & obnoxious  
keko & jorge lower their head  
yelling at him “mira dejala”  
 
i see them waiting for the bus  
that will never arrive  
i see them arguing over  
who’ll smoke the last cigarette  
i see them be wild & innocent  
but get singled out  
make the wrong decisions  
develop the wrong vices  
i see them fighting people  
who looked at keko wrong  
who’s always been the nicest one  
 
i hear rafaelito tell them  
he’s joining the army  
i hear the guilty & the gavel  
as papi goes to jail  
i dont even know what street  
they’re on anymore  
it looks like avenida ponce de leon  
but could be willis ave. 
  
the barrios de puerto rico  
always have similarities  
an army of banderas  
the smell of cafe en la manaña  
a cuchifritos on the corner  
a bodega owned by don carlos  
with salsa music playing in the background  
sounds like cheo feliciano  
 
last night i read in the same streets  
my father roamed through  
i saw him in his youthful abrasiveness  
thinking he knew everything in the world  
that he had everything planned out  
 
& i want to walk up to him  
tell him “mira papi, ten cuidado”  
& say it like he would know i was his son  
say it like i could change his future  
even if that meant me not existing  
 
i wanted him to have a such a different life  
than he lived, like a character in a garcia marquez novel  
not a greek tragedy or a crime noir 
pero something magical  
 
i tell him  
“papi, there’s so much for you to do in this world  
don’t go out with your friends tonight  
call that trigeñita you met, fela ask her  
what books does she like pero, stay home  
& tell your siblings you love them,  
play tag, pero don’t go out papi  
make better decisions  
you’re going to have kids  
that need your love  
you still have time  
    to change everything papi  
    to live a life that’s beautifully amazing  
    to be left of everything you know  
last night i saw my father  
in these streets of santurce  
 
    i gave him a head nod  
said whats up  
but he didn’t see me  
 
he was busy chasing  
the ghosts of his future  
 
he didn’t see i had so much  
love & hope for him  
 
he didn’t see me at all.