artwork collection

art - it's what captures a time, a place, an emotion...whatever that may be to the beholder

24x36 | pencil  & chalk | bristol paper

24x36 | charcoal & sanguine & chalk | bristol paper

figure drawings (n.s.f.w.)

COLLECTION OF POETRY WORKS

PA’LANTE (a collaboration with poet YTCL)

There's a force that gives living its rhythm. 

An intrinsic energy that creates the melody for feeling alive

A unique arrangement of life's octaves, tones, & semi-tones of which the composer is You. 

It took you no music lessons, no music theory, 

No hours on YouTube University endlessly searching how to shape your hands to strike it's strings. 

We all just know how to play it. 

It comes with our birthday suits, passed down by Mami&Papi, our predecessors, already having been fine tuned by our ancestors. 

It's called: Pa'lante.

Una fuerza que llega desde que tú naces

Al instante 

Aun siendo un pequeño infante

tu grito de NACIMIENTO es resonante por todo el hospital.

You give the room the Cries of Life, demanding your mother's warmth feeds your young spirit 

So that it may begin its path pa’lante.

From that infant instant your mind, body, & soul begin playing in harmony

to perform the symphony that moves you Pa'lante.

You grow with a desire for growth and it grows with you. 

You discover the rhythm of your walk, the cadence of your words,

the inner TUNE that pulls you hacia delante.

Y no hay Nadie que te aguante. 

No existe obstáculo que te impida, que pueda acabarte. 

Nadie puede contigo. 

Ni Goliath el Gigante. 

Porque vienes cargado con las agallas de tu familia que siempre te recuerdan:

"Ponte las pilas! Pa'que pueda echar pa'lante."

Pa'Lante comes in many forms.

You can hear it on any block 

Smell it in any coffee shop

See it on EVERY Crown of curly locks

Taste it in every jugo de Chinola Abuela makes.

It's the engine that propels you forward.

A burning desire to strive for better, or for more, or for your best.

It's in the things that we do,

In our swag, the way we move, even in the music we listen to

In the songs we sing off tune at the top of our lungs,

whether we're holding our friends close, or holding the broken pieces of our heart in our hands closer.

You can feel it en el flow playero de Ivy Queen y Daddy Yankee

En las letras de Carlos Santana, Joe Veras, y Yoskar Sarante 

en la fuerza de Hector Lavoe, El Cantante 

En la confianza inalcanzable de Cardi B, Bad Bunny, Tokischa y J Balvin,

En el romance de Reik y Marc Anthony

En Perreo de Yandel y Farruko, grocerias con romance

En la voz de Alejandro Sanz con su tono resonante,

que cuando la escuchas tus lágrimas no puedes aguantarte.

It's big bro taking little sis to school every morning,

so that Mami can get to work on time 

& the family can move pa'lante.

It’s in the taza, the figas, un baño por su energía que se limpie la vida to protect you pa’lante

It's getting on a yola, not knowing if you'll ever make it, that long walk thru a red hot desert with a gallon of water and just the clothes on your back 

porque en mi país es difícil echar pa'lante.

It’s in the Melanin of our skin that connects us to the whispers within that gives us the wisdom to move Pa’Lante 

Es comer plátano, yuca, papa y batata porque el Confle no da fuerza y después 

no voy a poder echar pa'lante.

It’s flipping tongues because the duality of my rolling rs and my English Spanish Spanglish puts me In the spaces pa mandar me pa’lante

It's putting on a mask just so I can get through the day because today I Can't even.

It's talking to my therapist so I can learn how to take the mask off

It's me not giving up on myself even when I don't feel like myself because 

Yo se que puedo echar pa'lante.  

Yo vengo de Inmigrantes 

lo llevo en mi sangre.

porque Pa’tra Ya no más,

no voy ni Un chin, 

ni por un instante, 

yo voy Pa’lante, siempre Pa’lante.

Broken Hearts

Why is it that alcohol tastes sweeter when there’s a knot in your throat.

I know it shouldn’t be that way, But I cannot control myself.

I probably need help, but I’m tired of cries.

I just want to get to the point where

I don’t feel sad anymore,

Or angry, or jealous, or blue.

Where all I feel is happiness,

Nothing but happiness, for you.

“hey more fish in the sea, right?”

Says the bartender,

But what do you do when the only fish

You had eyes for is now nothing more than a wish

You might wish to die for.

When the most loved fish has been reclaimed by the sea.

Your mind races in a sick labyrinth of good old Sweet Memories

That were once great,

But now carry the tannin of an upright stored Cabernet.