Mateo Lara
Odio (Hate)
misfit queer boy, spicing up a room
doomed repeat offender of
pronouncing words wrong in
a vacuum of assimilated-Mexican
fumes gorging on a river scourging
brown boy is beautiful with
dirt covering his feet, beautiful
with hands calloused and bleed
inking a wall, a high wall, a high
white-wall, must have been all
the smoke from nearby wildfires
fucking fires, busting fires like
all my ex-lovers turning raw in
my mouth, cannot undo an electric
wire trap of love, whatever the fuck
was not enough, here I come, trying
my best to be better than what they
expect so much out of me, I swear
if I say this word wrong, they will
tear me apart.
Mateo Lara is a queer latinx originally from Bakersfield, California. He received his B.A. in English at CSU Bakersfield. He is currently working on his M.F.A. in Poetry at Randolph College in Lynchburg, VA. His poems have been featured in Orpheus, EOAGH, Empty Mirror, and The New Engagement. He is an editor for Rabid Oak online literary journal & Zoetic Press.
Previous: Kristin LaFollette – I Wrote a High School English Paper on Hand Surgery • Issue 7 • Next: Leah Kiureghian – Abrahan 6
The Mantle 