Taking Notes by Luis Rivas

the smoke leaves their cigarettes
in thick, grey swirls, encircling the
gyrating, sweating, young bodies and
minds of san salvador, as entire
communities are left without political
representation, the poor left to fend for
themselves, as the old keel over from
dehydration and hunger, as skinny and
hungry dogs circle these bodies like
vultures, as relatives are murdered, as
the repression from the police rises and
falls like a wave, they dance to forget
they embrace and kiss and make love
passionately to remember that certain
things, every day growing fewer and
fewer still, are permanent and
untouchable and incorruptible,

and as a girl asks me to write a poem
describing this sentiment, the
contradictions of realities, the dichotomy
as she drinks her suprema and smokes
her delta with passion, but the poem has
already been written;

all i did was take notes.