September 14, 2020

breathe we

Juan Felipe Herrera

breathe for George Floyd we

breathe for compassion we

do not know what that is we

another black man holy we

gone now George Floyd we

Ahmaud running street endless we

America scream & love we

do not know what love is we

breathe George Floyd flames we

next to you on a sp halt cho ke we

knee Am Am

e ri c a w e

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“I had been wanting to write a poem dedicated to George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery for a while. After a few drafts, the poems felt forced. This piece was the last attempt. Gwendolyn Brooks came to the rescue—her hammering ‘we,’ and her complex simplicity. And a barely visible tint of Ginsberg.”
—Juan Felipe Herrera

Juan Felipe Herrera is the author of many collections of poetry, including Every Day We Get More Illegal (City Lights Books, 2020). The recipient of the L.A. Times Book Prize's Robert Kirsch Award for lifetime achievement, among other honors, he was the U. S. Poet Laureate from 2015-2017.

Every Day We Get More Illegal
(City Lights Books, 2020)

Black Lives Matter Anthology

“I give away the night
so he can have this slumber”

—“Where Is She ::: Koté Li Yé” by R. Erica Doyle

“Theories of Violence” by Rodney Gomez
read more

“Untitled [Executions have always been public spectacles]” by mónica teresa ortiz
read more

Thanks to David Tomas Martinez, author of Post Traumatic Hood Disorder, who curated Poem-a-Day for this month’s weekdays through October 13th. Read a Q&A about Martinez’s curatorial approach and find out more about our guest editors for the year.

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Poem-a-Day - "breathe we" by Juan Felipe Herrera

breathe we

Subscribe to the Poem-a-Day Podcast

Black Lives Matter Anthology

Older messages

"To the Country" by Rubén Darío

"Learning Late Letters" by Quyên Nguyễn-Hoàng

"A Proclamation" by Ashaki M. Jackson

"Slippage, a Provocation" by Sharan Strange

Poems for Hispanic Heritage Month

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