No Gravity

No

Gravity

Rudy Francisco

Cover Art: ArtofAndres

Ingredients

Page

1. Broom…………………………………….....…………..4
2. Tremble………….……………………………………...5
3. Gum……………..……………………………………….6
4. Sea……………………………………………………….7
5. Horizon…………………………………………………8
6. Baltimore………….……………………………………9
7. Skin……………….……………………………………10
8. PM……………….……………………………………..11
9. Stardom………….……………………………………12
10. Hourglass……………………………………………..13
11. Thief…………………………………………………...14
12. Drive…………….……………………………………..15
13. Daylight……………………………………………….16
14. Full……………….…………………………………….17
15. Speak……………………………….………………….18
16. Birthmark…………………………………………….19
17. Venom……………………….………………………...20
18. Photograph……………….…………………………..21
19. Black Emoji………………………….………………22
20. Magic…………………………………………………..23
21. Cigarette…………………….………………………...24
22. 400 Miles……………………….……………………..25
23. Brother…………………….…………………………..26
24. Hunted………………………………………………...27
25. Vacation………………………………………………28
26. Grease Fire ………………………….………………29
27. Flock…………………………………………………..30
28. Gravity……………….………………………………..31
29. Brick………………….………………………………..32
30. Privilege…………………….………………………...33
31. Today………………….……………………………….34
32. For J Dilla…………………………………………...35
33. Sinking………………………….……………………..36
34. Museum…………………….…………………………37

Broom

Sometimes, I’m the mess.

Sometimes, I’m the broom.

On the hardest days,

I have to be both.

Tremble

During an earthquake,

some will catapult

toward the nearest exit,

some will find a doorway

or crawl underneath a desk

and wait for the ground

to be comfortable where it unfurls.
The latter, is how the patient survive.

You

are full of tectonic plates
that aren't afraid of shifting.
Be careful of those

who fear your quiver.
They will cower at
the tremble of you.
They will run when the hands
of right now aren't so gentle
and loving

is an act of bravery.

Gum

For some people,

the word "Love"

is just chewing gum.

It's not food.

They like the way it tastes,

the way it masquerades

behind the teeth,

the way it burrows into

the tongue and sits there,

the way it fills the mouth

with flavor that has

no intention of staying.

They can spit it out,

leave it wherever it lands

and proceed

without a flinch.

Sea

Today,

I am just a sea

trying to make peace

with all the wreckage

inside of its stomach.

Hoping someone

will accept me,

broken ships

and all.

30/30 Horizon

I hope I haven’t already driven

past my greatest moments.

I hope there is something
beautiful in the horizon
that’s just as impatient as I am.
Something so eager,

it wants to meet me halfway.

A moment that is diligently

staring at its watch, frustrated,

bursting at the seams

and wondering what's taking

me so long to arrive.

29/30 Baltimore

I heard the city had been

on fire

for a while,

but now it has flames

to prove it.

The news said "Riot."

Personally, I think

it was more

smoke signal.

28/30 Skin

This skin says,
you better put on some lotion,
says, Jergen’s is godly,
ash is of the devil
and Satan ain't winnin today,
says, don't use nothing on me
that doesn’t have butter in the title,
says, if it can't stick to the wall,
it has no business being on this body,
says, Vaseline is a back up plan
and baby oil is the last line of defense,
says, don't forget the elbows,

says, don’t forget the knees
says, don’t forget all the spaces

in between the fingers,
says, pay attention.

Pay attention.

Says, if nothing else,
today,
we will shine.

27/30 PM

I usually wake

up at noon.

I shed sleep like

the rind of tangerine,

peel myself out of bed

and carve my initials

into the day around 12 :10.

I wonder if the morning

notices my absence.

26/30 Stardom

They say,

you are nobody until
somebody kills you.
Everyday, it seems
there is a new officer
dedicated to
making one us famous.

When we said,
we wanted the world
to know our names,

this isn't what we meant.

25/30 Hourglass

If I’m lucky enough to be

introduced to old age,

someday, my voice will be

a rusty hammer with no handle

and my hands will quake the way

any building does when it's

erected next to a train track.

I’ll be the fog that

clings to the mirror

after the kind of shower you

take when the days are long.

I’ll dissipate slowly.

If I’m lucky, this is

how the movie ends.

I’m not foolish enough

to ask God to put my

hourglass on its stomach.

I know all of this sand is

determined to reach the bottom,

but while I’m here,

I want to create something

that will last so long

it will look at my flesh

and laugh.

24/30 Thief

This body

is a glass house

that has swallowed

too many heirlooms.

Some days, I stare

at it in the mirror.

This is more stakeout

than admiration.

I am trying to find

new ways

to break

into myself.

23/30 Drive

Tell me a story

and let’s laugh like it’s the only

thing keeping us alive.

Play a song

and give the stereo

permission to use its

outside voice.

Let’s sing loudly,

off beat and out of tune.

Let the world know

we don’t care how it sounds

because the only key we need

is in the ignition.

Let’s just go.

Drive until our troubles

phantom in the rearview mirror

and we forget they exist,

at least

for a moment.

22/30 Daylight

Once,

death was just a distant relative

we only heard stories about.

Assumed if we avoided stray bullets,

we'd never stand face to face

with this member of our family.

We were the black box on the airplane.

A story made of Kevlar and steel.

Now,

we forget things

and our bones are beginning

to sound like the floorboards

of a house that isn't

worth remodeling.

Mortality is a sunset

in slow motion

and we have so much to do

while there is still daylight.

21/30 Full

“Yea, that’s my food.

You can have it.”

This is how I love.

I barter what I own

and exchange it

for your happiness,

hoping it’s enough

to make you full.

20/30 Speak

Most of my childhood,

I spoke with a stutter.

My mouth and mind

were 2 people

with no rhythm

trying to teach

each other how to dance.

I had to concentrate

to say the simplest things.

When there is struggle

in the veins of

every word,

you understand

that speaking is a

badge of honor

that some of us

have to fight for.

19/30 Birthmark

My skin

is a birthmark

I have learned

to wear proudly.

18/30 Venom

My biggest mistake

was pretending

you weren’t poison.

It’s easy to forget

even venom looks pretty

in good lighting.

17/30 Photograph

A man who doesn't feel

is just a photograph.

He’s an

immature Polaroid,

a thousand words

trapped in the belly

of a dead language.

16/30 Black Emoji

Today,

for the 1st time,

I used the dark skinned

emoji hand.

She says,

why are you so angry?

I replied,

...I was just waving.

It’s almost funny

how we assume

everything black

looks hostile.

15/30 Magic

My room is

a farm full of shadows.

Every morning,

the sun grows hands

and plucks every

strand of darkness

from the walls.

This is the only

sorcery I’ve ever

seen up close.

Today,

getting out of bed

is a magic trick

I’m still learning

to perform correctly.

14/30 Cigarette

You are a memory

flavored cigarette,

I know the dangers

of 2nd hand smoke

and I’ve never been

a big enough tray

to hold all your ashes.

13/30 400 Miles

We are beautiful

whenever we have

400 miles of

silence between us

and who we’ve become

stops interrupting

who we were.

12/30 Brother

When I call

you brother,

it means you have

at least 4 fists

during any fight

you can’t talk

yourself out of.

11/30 Hunted

When they say he’s black,

when they say he was unarmed,

when they say he was killed,

when they say the officer’s name,

when they show his face,

when the system

licks his hands clean,

when they say there is no crime

on his fingers,

you realize the phrase

“Life is short”

sounds a little different

when you’re being hunted.

10/30 Vacation

I imagine,
her smile is where
God goes on vacation
when our prayers
get overwhelming.

9/30 Grease Fire

Divorce is a stubborn grease fire;
a salivating mouth that still holds
an appetite after the kitchen
has been swallowed.

2 years ago, I watched this
greedy inferno steal the
wedding ring off

my mother’s finger.

To this day, there is still
a relentless shadow on her hand.
The teeth marks of a
30-year promise left on a stove
that we all thought was turned off.

8/30 Gravity

The first time
I heard my name
in your mouth,
the ground felt like
a language I haven't
spoken in years.
I forgot everything
I knew about gravity.

7/30 Flock

Dear self,

today, your laugh is a

wild flock of wind chimes.

It exists the way happiness should,

feral, loud,

and allergic to apology.

6/30 Brick

I'm learning that
everything doesn't
always come back
the way you send it.
Sometimes, love
is more brick and
less boomerang.

5/30 Privilege

Privilege
is the ability to forget
there are places
where poverty
is the only thing
that isn't struggling
to stay alive.

4/30 Today

Today,

your face is more

kitchen than hallway,

your eyes are

2 stubborn faucets.

and running is their

only hobby.

Today,

right now is a

multiple choice question.

A, B, C say “Have a breakdown”

D is “All of the above.”

Just do it.

When you find yourself

laying in a shatter

that could make a

windshield cringe,

don’t scrap

the serial numbers

off your masculinity.

No one is coming

to take it back.

It’s yours.

Just let go.

3/30 For J Dilla

Legend has it,

when J Dilla was admitted

to the hospital for the last time,

he brought his production equipment

and made instrumentals out of everything

in his body that wasn’t ready to die.

The last thing he did on this earth

was make music.

How beautiful it is

to grind yourself into sand,

offer the grain of you

to anyone willing to listen.

Hoping they will carry your debris

into places you’ll never go.

2/30 Sinking

I held you

the way a boat

holds water.

I always felt

us sinking.

1/30 Museum

When you choose to be a poet,

when you choose to spill like this,

bleed like this, cry like this,

your pain becomes an exhibit.

A place for people to walk through

and then leave when they are ready.

No one ever asks a museum

if it’s doing ok.

I’m still

learning

to love

the parts

of myself

that no one

claps for.