A Dreamer’s Howl (Poetry)

By Jesus Cortez

 

My blood will not mix

with the blood of other

oppressed peoples for a

piece of

paper.

 

I do not want to fit in,

to be the model citizen,

to agree with every lie

and take it as a

truth.

 

These papers, this “freedom”

signed by those who have

hated me since

I became an

“alien”…

 

I can do without them.

 

I remember dying slowly in

street warfare that

took my mind,

but even those streets

gave me love…

 

How do I dream when they offer

me death? I will live

this life, with my

paperless

dignity,

 

with my undocumented name,

but a humanity that

rises above those who

claim humanity belongs

only to them.