Table of Contents
Despedida: Brooklyn to Philly 1
Typhoon Poem 3
At the Tribunals 5
A Scavenger's Ode to the Turntable (Or a Note To Thomas Alva Edison) 7
Brokeheart: Just Like That 9
Uptown Ode That Ends On an Ode to the Machete 11
Ode to the Cee-Lo Players 13
Ode to Not Having Enough Kids to Play a Game of Baseball 15
The Halo Halo Men: An Anthem 16
Violets 21
Lone Star Kundiman (For the Guy Who Seized My Arm After I Accidentally Cut the Line for the Toilet in Austin) 22
Wish 25
Kundiman: Hung Justice 27
Fable of the Short Song 29
Instance of an Island 31
The King Won't Kill Ale 34
Evidence: Box 1A, Item 1 36
A Field at Night-With Boys 38
Ten Years After My Mom Dies I Dance 40
Children Walk on Chairs to Cross a Flooded Schoolyard 42
Ode to Eating a Pomegranate in Brooklyn 44
Despedida: Quezon City 45
You Cannot Go to the God You Love With Your Two Legs 48
Brooklyn Antediluvian 51
Acknowledgments 67