Praise Song / Sorrow Song: DEMZ
for Delbert Gutierrez, a 21 year-old graffiti artist
killed by police in Miami Beach on August 6, 2014.
His graffiti tag was DEMZ
Praise to a warm December night,
stars and palm trees dreaming.
Praise to the words you
dreamed of painting.
Praise to the gravel beneath
the unmarked police car.
Praise to you running, your
quick moves through the alley.
Praise to alleys.
Praise to the police car’s tires
hissing around corners.
Praise to the dark clothing
you wore that night.
Praise to your shock as the front bumper
tore your legs.
Praise to the surprise at being
struck by so much weight.
Praise to collapsing, your arms’
and legs’ betrayal.
Praise to betrayal.
Praise to the metal and pavement
as they open your head.
Praise to the darkness that leaks
from your eyes.
Praise to your eyes.
Sorrow to the night your mother grieved
beside your hospital bed.
Sorrow to not knowing
she was there.
Sorrow to her fingers laced
through yours.
Sorrow to the police official who told her
you shouldn’t have run.
Sorrow for the dinner he offered
to buy her.
Sorrow for her fury.
Sorrow for all the December nights
you survived.
Sorrow that this one
was different.
March 24, 1980
for Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador
The cup you raised
was round, not unlike
a bullet. It widened
like a wound does. It held
the swirling of the people
but it could not contain
it. The cup held a wine not
served at fine meals. This
wine knew garbage dumps,
El Mozote, Santiago de Maria,
places no bishop would ever see.
You took the poor into
your arms, encircling them
with a cathedral’s protection,
radio sermons to help them
bury the ones who died
before you would.
One day ago, you ordered
soldiers to see their country,
to disobey any who ordered
them to close their eyes and
kill their own. “Stop” you
demanded, the swelling circle of
of a bleeding land.
And so today in a hospital
chapel, a few nuns, tired
nurses who’d read
the treasonous gospel.
The story of a cathedral
unfinished as its people.
The story of a bishop
firm as his altar.
The story of a cup
dangerous as its last
supper, a banquet
of bullets for the Savior’s
country to taste.
Joseph Ross is the author of two books of poetry: Gospel of Dust (2013) and Meeting Bone Man (2012). His poems appear in many places including, The Los Angeles Times, Poet Lore, Tidal Basin Review, Beltway Poetry Quarterly and Drumvoices Revue. He has received multiple Pushcart Prize nominations and won the 2012 Pratt Library/Little Patuxent Review Poetry Prize. He recently served as the 23rd Poet-in-Residence for the Howard County Poetry and Literature Society in Howard County, Maryland. He teaches English and Creative Writing at Gonzaga College High School in Washington, D.C. and writes regularly at www.JosephRoss.net.