HE HOLDS ON TIGHT TO HIS “BAG OF POEMS”,
HIS “LIFE”
by Jorge Antonio Vallejos

that’s the reason I read him, learn him, honour him:
Last Night, today, tomorrow.

His Poem For Jody About Leaving,
not wanting to go but doing it anyway,
helped me forgive my father,
releasing
h a t e,
feeling
“how it is” slowly “going away.”

Reading about Leonard Bluebird
reminded me of my mother
when she had lymphoma,
and how I did
circles
on my bike behind the hospital
while yelling and “cussing”
after the doctor said,
she,
A Dying Warrior,
had six months to live.

In hard times like this,
I now visualize
Crow
“on his wind road.”

I write because
he taught me
“The only way to continue
is to tell a story
and there is
no other way.”

For Simon Ortiz
Meegwetch for weaving stones.

Jorge Antonio Vallejos is a mixed race poet, essayist, and journalist. His work has appeared in The Kenyon Review, Our Times, Toronto Star, and is forthcoming in Descant. Jorge loves spicy food, boxing, and meeting new readers and writers.