Not Tonight but Tomorrow (1978)

Not Tonight but Tomorrow (1978)

By: Miguel Algarin

 

Not tonight but tomorrow

when the light turns the peach

tree green and the Earth sprouts

its young leaves looking to repeat

the magical mystery tour of

photosynthetic conversion of light

and moisture into life—

Not tonight but tomorrow

when my body will have shed

its fear of turning old and soft

will I turn my speeding mind

into the tunnels of your psyche

to melt the calcium that constipates

your synapses into a lubricating powder—

Not tonight but tomorrow

when the Universe moves on

beyond the field of action

that is the Earth to me and you

will I discover the interplanetary clues

that signal the roots of my moment to you—

Not tonight but tomorrow

will I throw my feelings into

New York streets to stew

in the violence and despair

of our planet—

Not tonight but tomorrow

will the Earth turn green again.

 

About the Author:

(Excerpt is taken from; https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/miguel-algarin)

 

Poet and writer Miguel Algarín was born in Puerto Rico and raised in a culturally-minded household, before moving to Manhattan in the early 1950s. He earned degrees in literature from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and Penn State University. In the early 1970s, he cofounded the Nuyorican Poets Café with Miguel Piñero, Pedro Pietri, and others, and served on its board of directors.

 

Algarín books included Survival Superviviencia (2009), Love is Hard Work: Memorias de Loisaida (1997), Time’s Now/Ya Es Tiempo (1985), Body Bee Calling from the 21st Century (1982), and Mongo Affair: Poems (1978); and he translated Pablo Neruda’s Songs of Protest (1985). He coedited Action: The Nuyorican Poets Café Theater Festival (1997), Aloud: Voices from the Nuyorican Poets Café (1994), and Nuyorican Poetry: An Anthology of Puerto Rican Words and Feelings (1975).

 

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