Desmond

Desmond
Joseph
Emiliano
KarateExplosion
Boyd

Son

I look at you
And wonder

I wonder
What the future holds for you

I wonder if your fate
Is colored
Different
Then your brothers
Because of the color
Of your skin

And I wonder
If you’re twice as
Fucked
As they are
because
My statistics
Are stacked with your dads
And there is no place
In this world
For a black chicano
With a liberationist
Lawyer Mother
And a
Republican
Doctor Father
To blossom
properly

KARATE EXPLOSION

My youngest son
Came in to this world
SO stubborn
After 4 bottles of castor oil
And 2 false alarms
An IV of pitocin
That didn’t work

Then you were born
On your time

With caramel skin
And sandy brown wavy hair

I see how the world receives you now
As a gentle, patient
Mixed baby
So handsome
And cute
Without the second thought
That in

15 years
They will be
Unhappy if you
Are the one
Of mine
That ends up on
Their
doorstep
To take their daughter to the movies
Or hang out with their son
That you are the one
They will follow around
Stores
They will follow in cars

They will follow
On the field
Or court
Which are the
Only
Acceptable places
For you to be

My son
Who at 13th months
Wanted to read a book
At the doctors office
My smart little boy
Who is like
An active volcano
Beautiful to look at
Calm
Regal
Until triggered

Everyone who says
You’re patient
Has never seen you
When you wanted something

Desmond
Joseph
Emiliano
KarateExplosion
Boyd

You have a name
Strong enough to carry you
Through this life and onto the next
Without stopping for gas

Desmond – for Desmond Tutu, for the meaning of Desmond that read’s “time traveler, visitor of the universe” Desmond because that was your name the minute we heard it

Joseph – For the Tio you never met. The one your father loves so much. The one who changed the Anderson family.

Emiliano – for my favorite revolutionary, Emiliano Zapata. Wanted to give land back to the people for he knew the power of providing for yourself. As your Gallegos family does.

KARATEEXPLOSION – what can I say?

Y el apellido de tu papa, because we though Juarez-Boyd was a bit much
After the other 4 names

Desmond, you
Were conceived and grew in my belly
In my 3rd year of law school

You went to every class,
Study session and exam

And upon your birth son

We settled into our hospital room for the night and as you slept and ate
I studied for the bar exam
And when we left
You would come with me every day

In a sling

So tiny and quiet
In the back row

Of my BarBri Prep class

The only time we weren’t together was when I took the actual exam

Me sitting in bathroom stalls on the floor
Trying to pump between test segments

Son
The future
Holds something
So different for you

Something your father and I can never imagine

Because truth be told
Where we are now is something we never imagined

Because truth be told
You are something we never imagined.

But you
And your brothers
And the life we have is so amazing
That what the creator gives

You

Will be nothing short

Of a karateexplosion