Brother, please.

This story isn't one, when

long ago my brother

and all of the human

machine wept. Such is light

ning. Such the slow fires

too. So I didn’t learn to pray

not now with time twirling

like a tulle dress down

not then, in Colorado crying

out in rigorous terror. Most

I ever managed was to sit

in an empty church at dawn

and sob from quiet pews:

why did you wake up?

Mario Alejandro Ariza was born in the Dominican Republic, but grew up between Santo Domingo and Miami. He has held a scholarship from the Breadloaf Writer’s conference, and his poetry and prose appear or are forthcoming in The Baffler, Luna Luna, The Rumpus, Guernica, Keep This Bag Away From Children, UP literature and Circleshow. His self-published book of poems, The Same River Twice, is available for purchase on iTunes and Amazon.