Love
Chapter 2 of Love and War includes: Opposites Attract, Voices in the Sky, and Portugese Say Love.
Opposites Attract
Men are hard, women are soft
And that’s not just in bed
Without women
Men become cold, brittle, cruel
Start lookin’ for another guy to duel
Hard needs soft
And soft don’t mean weak
In this dictionary
It’s just another word for unique
Roles can be reversed
But not our nature
Yin and yang
Tears and toys
Flowers and monster trucks
What’s going on?
Voices in the Sky
Dead tired, Cristina Marquez edged her car slowly onto her street, Avenida Grande, in South Gate. Despite the street’s name, it wasn’t much. Small houses in need of paint, too many cars. But at least the dead end street was quiet, isolated from the noise and violence of the neighborhood.
Cristina’s supervisor at Long Beach Memorial Hospital had asked her to work overtime.
“No, not tonight,” she answered.
“Why not? You always work overtime when I ask you.”
Portugese Say Love
My mom was born in Portugal
Under the sunny skies of a Catholic dictatorship
Her dad was a holy roller preacher with a vision of heaven
But a Baptist, so the whole family caught hell
He
Had the strength of his convictions
To get him through the beatings and evictions
She
Had four sisters and two brothers
Who had to share their father’s beefs
And protect her from all others
But there was no protection from pops and all his rules
No dancing
No radios
No music
No way his kids would be the devil’s tools...