Dimitri Reyes: I Told the Brother Gracias
For Armando
Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins — Peter 4:8
I told the brother gracias,
for coming to me in his best spanish.
Yes, yes my eyes were a little wet.
I assumed Jehovah witnessed them
through tinted lenses and pushed
the hermano towards me. He called
himself Armando. His corduroys
faded into a bathroom mortar blue.
They didn’t reflect his posture, nor his
strong grip. His boisterousness in saying
explicame esto. The neatness of his mustache
made him every abuelo. We spoke in spanglish,
He recited his best verses, calling them all poems.
His words became tears and his words poured into me.
What our worlds couldn’t connect our lenguajes
did in spirit. For the rest of the busride I drank
his scripture that quenched an unknown thirst.
Dimitri Reyes is a SortaRican PuertoVegan poet born and raised in Newark, New Jersey. Through experience, his poetry becomes a meditation on veganism, well-being, Latinx culture, and growing up in the inner city. Dimitri is currently a candidate in the Rutgers- Newark MFA program and his poetry is published or forthcoming in Acentos Review, Naugatuck River Review, Radius, DrylandLit, and others.