In the beginning, there was Dunkin' Donuts and Eamon's writing class.
There was the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority and bum juice 
on every downtown alley. There was small buildings surrounded by 
pidgeons and old brick roads stepped on by Chuck Taylor. There 
was a beautiful place called the Providence Place Mall that had it's
appeal taken away by gondolas floating in sewage water swimming
laps around ancient outdoor fireplaces. I remember when AS220 was
full of the struggling artist and when Dominoes was just a game drunk
spanish people played when they had family gatherings. I remember 
graffitti before it was cashed in and when Dickies were the uniforms
 of mechanics and gangbangers. Yes, Those were the days son. 
Now go fly your car.
  

I looked like a jack-o-lantern bouncing throught the doors of Hope high school.
That name alone lit up the candle chained to my core. It soon turned into hoping 
I get out of the damned place where pumpkins were smashed and sweet intoxication 
filled the breadthes of ghoulish morons. I hoped for a bigger brighter light, and that
light was harnested in an apple without a carved face. Yet carved on the inside was
glamour, music, art, yellow twinkie cabs filled with possibilities and endless journeys. 
Nature, science, and late nights under manmade stars eating brick oven, italian tomato 
sauce pies while a soprano belches out "That's amore" with sausage.
  

Hot dry summer breeze brushing my tanned skin. The smell of clean ocean 
waters reach my nostrils and I feel my hairs rising as I close my eyes.
I can hear the cars driving by and my people speaking in Puerto Rican
slang by the bakery.

"bamo par playa."
"bamo a comprar cebesa."

It's peaceful and beautiful with your eyes closed or if they're trained on the
right things like el Morro, the beaches, Old San Juan, and the food. 
But this isn't a tourist town. It's main street, San Juan. It's littered with gas 
stations and McDonalds and every store, including the KFC's and Burger King's,
serve alchohol.  Vacation in Puerto Rico is great when you're 19 and you're able
to buy a beer and sit under coconut palm trees as the golden sand somehow 
finds a way to nestle itself in your crack, even when you have pants on. 
Good thing the tourists stay out of this part of town, they'd never 
want to come back.

 I wish I had never left.

  

A blonde woman walks by wearing big sunglasses and her hair tied up in a bun. 
Her turqoise bag doesn't match her brown boots, but i'm no fashion expert.
She looks just as calm as the janitor taking out the trash from the cafe or 
the three high school students smoking an L, laughing at a lady wearing an 
orange and pink sweater asking a lesbian for some weed. Ah, Providence.
Thoguh the smell of bums and piss overpower the the smell of weed in 
some of the dowtown allies, I love the concrete slabbed ontop of historic 
roads and the old buildings with graffitti on them. I will never leave you.

  

Trying to keep my eyes open this early morning. My head is pounding, 
screaming "VODKA!!!" The tie around my neck doesn't soothe the pressure 
any more so than the heat surrounding my body and clothes. The heat feels
like it's coming from a lava pit in my stomache groaning with anger and 
uncomfort. I want to spew it out but I must hold in the boiling, gurgling 
orange juice which didn't want to die off last night. UUGHHH!!! I can't wait 
until this is over for the day, or atleast lunch time.

  

(In collaboration with other classmates)

Shouldn't the treeman just live like a bear in the woods?
 He wipes his ass on a tree anyways.
Just not as soft as charmin.
Those damn bears are so adorable! As much as 
you want to hate their corny asses.
Ehhh.
I still could hate them, but i've never seen them
so I don't hate them.
...with their perfect round, primary-colored rumps.
Fart.
Queef.
Yum Yum.
I hate this shit! So shut up already.




  

So I fucking hate big shit in the water, whales, sharks, alligators, and octopusses.
 They move so freely in the enormous belly of the ocean and God only knows what 
else is down there in the deep cracks of Earth's hidden arteries. I have the same fear 
about life. Sometimes I don't want to step outside because violence and phsycos roam 
the free alleyways of man built grime. But what the fuck ami going to stay inside for?
 I'm just isolating myself on a big bullseye saying "HERE I AM!" So fuck the water, or 
fuck the land for that matter. I'd rather take the chance and die of innate survival 
instincts. But fuck that too. I'll just swim in my pool, and ironically enough, float 
on my fucking inflatable whale.
  

I dream of people.
Ancestors crying and screaming.
My street fam all behind me riding quads and dirtbikes.
A little girl standing on mace towers inside a large clock. 
The cogs are spiked ball and chains swinging closer to the girl. 
Every swing makes my lungs tighter.
I dream of love, randomly.
Past girlfriends who haunt my dreams.
Figures who embody everything I look for in a girl.
Eyes coming together with eyes.
My soul being crushed from the love I lack, and seek.
Success, money, charity, less fortunate.
Making a difference.
My brother hanging out with me like we never did growing up.
My younger brother sticking with me through tough times, distant, like a shadow, but there.
I dream my family are samurais holding the forefront. 
Mythical powers exerting from our weapons.
I dream of robbing banks. I dream assasins, doing the job and literally flying off,
 running across the bank walls while being pursued by a hail of bulets.
I dream weird people saying weird things.
Smart people not making any sense.
I dream in english.
Most of the time in gibberish.
  

(in collaboration with classmates)

Ever since Jackass i've always wondered what it would be like to staple your ass. 
What if I sewed it?
Yeah, that would probably involve a nasty infection of some sort.
How would you be able to shit?
Would the thread divide the turds in half?
Ha, now there's no crack in your ass I suppose.
It hurts like shit. I swear I will fuck that kid up.
Word.

  

So, check this out right, I'm looking for money one night going through peoples garbage. 
Maybe I can find enough shit to recycle, make a few bucks. I pull out a fresh ass lamp shade.
It's tight so I thow it on my head. So I'm looking fly and feeling cocky.I see my homeboy chilling eating an apple in his box.  I preach to him about the lamp shade, how one day it'll be too hot and he'll 
wish he had a lamp shade to cover his head.
My confidence is so convincing that I cheat the dumbass into giving me his apple as a trade off.
My stomache felt good that night.
The next day I wake up, it's hot as hell outside, my bald head is screaming
from the heat and I say to myself, I could really use a lampshade.

  

I'm walking throught the woods on my way home. I guess murderers and rapists
don't kill or rape enough these days to keep people away from places like this. 
My body keeps the persperation to a minimum seeing as mosquitos love my blood.
 I pick up a broken tree branch and use it to hike up some rocks so I can take a better 
look at nature. From there I can see the kids from my creative writing class all on their
 own little paths. Wonder what they're doing? As I start to walk down the rocks, tree 
branch firm in my hands, I feel a drip on my shirt. I didn't bother to take a look, i'll 
wash it out later. The walk starts to get to my head. How long will in these woods? 
Nature's cool and all but damn, i'm hungry.

  

He told me family is the most important thing and that we have to stay together 
if we want to be happy. I knew what he meant and I agreed that our relationship
is something that i'd like to hold on to and cherish. A father is armor, swords,
and shields. Afather is protection, discipline, and love. I am grown now, I must
be a man on my own. I am forced to move on, he's hundreds of miles away.
I remember shopping for clothes, rocking to the sounds that sprung out from 
his car stereo. Eating dinners together until our stomaches broke the buttons 
on our shirts. I remember a father embracing a son with love, discipline, and 
protection. Now I hear my baby sister crying on the other end of the phone. 
Someday, when she is capable of understanding words, i'll say to her that family
is the most important thing and that we have to stay together if we want to be 
happy, and i'll watch her grow right before my eyes.