Morning After The Election

I can’t control
the vanishing
of bees

but I can control
the honey I swallow
to soothe
the vocal cords

I can't control boys
bully-tumbling
another boy

in the classroom
like they’re
in a mosh pit

but I can remember
rolling on hills
with boys being the bully

I can’t change my major
from drama to global peace

but I can write
similes of serenity

& poetic sermons
in temples
of matrimonial fanfare

I know the bombs, the explosives,
and Molotovs are overhead

and I can't control
the lottery, the multiverses,
and tomorrow’s astrology

but whatever tarot card I pick
or whatever
gets thrown
at my face:

Hangman
or Fallen Towers

I can express
my weathering emotions

to sing while hoarse
to control air placement
to find the chakra

the right amount of air
to pass through my throat

oh sing with me
the octave between

blade & nectar
rubble & clouds
ash & mountain

Originally published in Poem-a-Day on December 30, 2024, by the Academy of American Poets.

Regie Cabico is the first Asian American Poet and openly Queer Poet to win the Nuyorican Poets Cafe Grand Slam and is a three-time National Poetry Slam Finalist. His work has appeared on TEDx Talk, HBO's Def Poetry Jam, and NPR’s Snap Judgement. He is the recipient of a Writers Residency from La Maison Baldwin and The Asian Pacific Studies Artist-in-Residence at NYU. Awards include a New York Innovative Theater Award for his work on the New York Neo-Futurists production of Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind. His first poetry collection, A Rabbit in Search of a Rolex was published in 2024 by Day Eight Press.