National Poetry Month 2: "Tell Us a Little About Yourself"

“Tell Us a Little About Yourself”

Jack Garcia 

What do I say?

Do I tell the room that I’m afraid of matches,

or that I get uncomfortable around big dogs

that like to jump on me, or that my favorite cocktail

switches between a Coke and Rum or a Margarita

or a Long Island Iced Tea depending on the night? 

Do I tell them that I’ve made out in a baseball dugout

or that I’ve had four teeth pulled

or that my biggest fear in life is that I’ll amount to nothing,

or worse, that I’ll amount to the wrong thing?

Do I tell them I watched every season of Glee,

even when everyone hated it? That I can’t whistle?

That I don’t care?

That I sometimes talk to myself when I’m alone?

That I stand in the mirror, pinching my stomach rolls in disgust?

Do I tell them that I’m not sure about God anymore

because if He exists, then He’s just one more person I’ve disappointed? 

Do I tell them I once saw a little girl

get run over by a produce truck in Chile?

Watermelons fell out of the back

when the driver hit the brakes,

breaking into pieces—smashed

red pulp like the little girl’s head.

The neighbors sprayed the streets down

with their garden hoses and the water flowed

like pink lemonade around my shoes.

Do I tell them how I wanted to cry?

How I wanted to go to her

and with the power of the Spirit

raise her from the dead?

Heal her?

Anything? 

No.

I say I’m from Colorado and sit down.