writing about death// people dying // i know what i wanna name my baby
Genesis Perez
I know what I wanna name my baby At least I know what I want to call him when he gets here How do you tell dead boys their names are blessings or curses? Come dance with me to Ian’s sad voice You can act your age in this club Come dance with me to Ian’s sad voice Spin me like they taught you in dance class I know what I wanna name my baby At least I know what to call him when he gets here Or maybe he will already know his name? Come dance with me to Ian’s sad voice Dance with me like David Bowie Come dance with me to Ian’s voice Dance with me like we belong to each other
Genesis Perez is queer Chicana poet and performer from Oxnard, California. From 2019 to 2020 they were the Youth Poet Laureate of Ventura County. They released their debut collection of poetry Flash Photography in 2021. Perez has performed at .Paak House, Medicine for Nightmares, and Da Poetry Lounge. If you visit them at the Beyond Baroque bookstore, they will make you tea.
This poem is very good. Very original, it has, for me a structure of irony; a contrast between the stillness, the stasis of dead boys and the motion of Come dance. Also, between the past (the dead) and the future (the child to be born), the present (people, places, things ) is so vivid, alive.