words with no names

The next time you feel chagrined,

          be like the mighty penguin.

A bird who does not soar the sky

          but dives to depths few can survive.

© 2008 henry toromoreno

an apology to our soldiers

I was so wrong

But I was so scared

I was hit so hard

I guess I didn’t care

And I believed

that better men knew best

how things should run

and I succumbed to what came next

flags and songs

and guns for sons

right and wrong was lost

among the hunger to get

something done

in those moments I felt strong

we all knew that we belonged

as we gathered up our arms

and marched toward the front

the crowd threw up

prayers and psalms

so that we could move along

continue with our lives

as though nothing

and no one had been bombed

I was so wrong

But I was so scared

I didn’t dare to stand up

As war plans were prepared

And I believed

I believed that

better days would come.

But I was wrong.

I was so wrong.

© 2008 henry toromoreno

for Father’s Day, in memory of Tim Russert

In case the world should end

before I can tell you everything

I hope when that time comes

You’re old enough to know –

          I was just a man,

          Like both of you, but less.

Much less, and more at once, too.

The times we had together

So much you don’t recall,

Cannot be expected to remember.

I carried that around for us,

That history we have

that I dig up in writing this,

Though it is less. But more.

Much more, of course.

For in the cadence of each sentence

And the twisting of each letter

The separating spaces I told you both

Was the breath of each word

You understand our grand connection

And why the stories that define us

Go way beyond “the end”.

© 2008 henry toromoreno

© 2008 henry toromoreno

     proves my whole idea

     that you been trying to figure out

     who I am and where I live

and that you’ll probably be

     looking my name up on the internet

and checking out my interests

and vital statistics and hobbies

and such

and all that information

     that you are gathering for

     (we know who)

     will be put together

     with my social security history

and you’ll know how much money

     I made, legally

and if that matches

     what I spent on my credit cards

and on my cell phone

     the text I sent to friends

     about what I pay for rent and car bills

and you’ll figure out how much mileage

     I put on my car by checking

     my EZ pass and my tire treads

and my Metro Card,

and you’ll know if I was hanging out

     someplace I should not have been

     instead of working

     because they have cameras

     everywhere nowadays

And then all of this information

      will be tagged, sorted and filed

      put together mathematically

and run through that supercomputer

     that made the chess champ look

     like Koko the Gorilla struggling

     with her awkward hands

     unable to signal for help

And this little note

     will also be filed and labeled

and later be used to prove

     that I was crazy and dangerous

     to everyone around me

because I had it figured out

guest artist alex toromoreno’s “the dancer”, crayon on paper

© 2008 alexander toromoreno

Y Porque conmigo se

acaban preguntas de inmigracion*

     I was born in Brooklyn and

          have blood in the Bronx

Y porque conmigo se

acaba tener que hablar espanol**

     My kids speak English

          But they know where I’m from

Y porque conmigo se

comienca una nueva cancion***

     I understand what it means to forget

          As we learn to become.

 translations:  

The sounds in your head, the things that you dream

The way you’ve learned to understand and mean

The things you recall, your memories and all

The yesterdays you put away, your nightmares and the disarray

It all belongs to someone else, when you consider what you became

There’s almost nothing of yourself; your face has changed, you’re not the same

You’ve learned since you began to be,

to use the “I”s around you to make your me

But perhaps you took too much, too much.

In such a rush to be filled up,  you let yourself become corrupt

Disrupted what there was of you, while trying to stay connected.

© 2008 henry toromoreno

6 pix from ID cards prove my belief,

          when it comes to my identity, time’s this great thief.

Keeps changing my profile as it passes by,

          alters my hairline, but my eyes never lie.

© 2008 henry toromoreno

Unicorn burgers and unicorn franks,

Unicorn sweaters and unicorn pants,

Unicorn hats and gloves came together,

Both beautifully made of unicorn leather.

Unicorn belts and unicorn shoes,

Unicorn horns made into musical flutes,

Unicorn tails and unicorn hooves,

Both lucky charms, but that’s half a truth.

Unicorns used to sing such great songs,

But there are so many uses for unicorns,

And that’s why,

That’s why the unicorn’s gone.