Heaven ©

anything can happen waiting

for heaven in the clear blue sky

to descend on the neighborhood

with the old tenement buildings

that have been speaking Spanish

for more than six decades and 

making evenings on the block 

gasp with sadness.  anything can

happen in the places heaven is 

invited to drive bad days into the 

earth and allow us to breathe the 

remnants of precious dreams that

plead for light in us.  anything can

happen to me in America that has

not held me like a mother and with 

a lewd tongue tells me to forget who

I am.  while I wait for heaven to lean

toward the neighborhood not a single

prayer will be said by any of us on 

the block to distance life around here

from the nights spent dancing on the

sidewalk,  holding each other close, 

kissing grandmothers who smile and

finding healing in the words of King,

Romero and Tito’s grandfather who

lives in building 1203.  

h. j. Recinos