tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-91016962024-03-06T21:47:54.374-06:00The Latino WriterFarmworker | Queer Elder | Latinx Jedi | Sexy Fat | Writer & Editor: Pulse/Pulso and Fat & QueerMiguel M. Moraleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03434739737905270556noreply@blogger.comBlogger336125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9101696.post-50613649741446777582020-05-07T23:02:00.000-05:002020-05-07T23:27:48.158-05:00cry | COVID-19
Miguel M. Morales
Strange,
I have not
cried from
the horror we
are enduring.
Instead,
I have cried
because of
the beauty
in kindness and
in song and
in voices and
in smiles and
in laughter.
I legit cried
watching a
livestream of
ocean waves
crashing on a
Miguel M. Moraleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03434739737905270556noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9101696.post-61759214961387930822017-06-12T23:38:00.000-05:002017-06-12T23:38:37.568-05:00Unintentional Rainbows
Miguel M. Morales
Ever since I woke up / this morning, I've been seeing / unintentional rainbows.
The seats on the bus with / curving multicolored lines in the fabric/ reveal
a cascading array of rainbow figures / endlessly jumping and dancing through sunlight.
In the library / art students file past / my desk moving toward / a table in the back. They
spread out / colored pencils. Sharp tipsMiguel M. Moraleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03434739737905270556noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9101696.post-9123455849184292792017-06-12T10:07:00.000-05:002018-06-12T09:07:55.795-05:00Don’t Call It an Anniversary
Miguel
M. Morales
Anniversaries
celebrate our best moments
like weddings and first dates.
They
recall our special connections from
a first kiss to the day we met our best
friend.
There
will be no anniversary toasts to the
discriminate massacre of 49 people.
No
specially compiled playlist or
Miguel M. Moraleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03434739737905270556noreply@blogger.comOlathe, KS, USA38.8813958 -94.81912849999997738.6836668 -95.141851999999972 39.0791248 -94.496404999999982tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9101696.post-31425385961383914272016-03-11T22:36:00.000-06:002016-03-11T22:56:22.580-06:00An Old AIDS Activist Rages about Hillary ClintonFolks, I'm having a hard time processing what Hillary Clinton said today about the Reagans and HIV/AIDS. So I just need to put some stuff down.
Today is tough. Right now is tough.
I haven't rage cried in a long-ass time. I've forgotten how rage tears give me a migraine and that my burning eyes and forehead ignite the tears on my face.
I won't be able to sleep tonight.
ICYMI:
“It may be hard Miguel M. Moraleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03434739737905270556noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9101696.post-12783421409217877992016-03-07T11:11:00.002-06:002016-03-07T11:21:33.895-06:00Fat Writer at AWPSo my friend, Baruch Porras-Hernandez, posted the article below on Facebook. I adore him for many reasons but I'm inspired by how he embraces his queer brown fatness.
The article, about being fat while traveling, got me thinking of my upcoming trip to #AWP16.
In addition to all the preparations for panels, caucuses, off-site readings and other events, this traveling-while-fat stress is what's Miguel M. Moraleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03434739737905270556noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9101696.post-28574710419562534942015-11-14T23:21:00.000-06:002015-11-15T09:25:02.400-06:00Lifting Sandra
I messed things up. I always thought there would be time to
sit and have a chat with Sandra Moran.
We work at the same place. We’re
both writers. We know tons of the same people. I knew our lives ran on a
parallel track and that sometime they’d cross long enough of us to talk about
-- everything.
People who meet Sandra all say the same thing. She makes them feel as if they areMiguel M. Moraleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03434739737905270556noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9101696.post-80678700005898511272015-10-08T22:24:00.000-05:002015-10-09T15:32:11.284-05:00In Lak'ech Ala K'in | I am Another You. You are Another Me
I'm spending the morning in high school. Everything is much smaller than I remember ... except me.
La Clase
My friend Jackie Madrigal pioneered a US Latino Literature class at Shawnee Mission North High School in Mission, Kansas. She invited Chato Villalobos and myself to be guest speakers to help put some faces to Latino literature and to talk about the Latino Writers Collective and Miguel M. Moraleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03434739737905270556noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9101696.post-73738484283846991632015-09-24T15:30:00.000-05:002015-09-24T15:43:08.228-05:00What Does Your Name Mean??For Wo Chan
it means you can't change it
just because you can't pronounce it.
it means just because you can't spell it,
that you can't throw in extra letters
or take others away.
it means you can't shorten it
because you think it's too long
or that you can "americanize" it.
it means when you accidentally
and repeatedly fuck it up,
you’re actually doing it on purpose.
it Miguel M. Moraleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03434739737905270556noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9101696.post-80592549541964658992015-02-23T14:16:00.000-06:002015-02-23T14:16:18.055-06:00'Tending Hands' on Public Radio International
Me and my dad around 1970
Here is an expanded version of my farmworker post, 'Tender Hands' featured on my other blog, The Last Year
'When I was 10 years old, I began working regularly with my family as a migrant farmworker. I'd done it previously, but only on Saturdays, to help them catch up when tornado warnings ended work early or when the patches of weeds were particularly thick. TheMiguel M. Moraleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03434739737905270556noreply@blogger.comOlathe, KS, USA38.8813958 -94.81912849999997738.6836668 -95.141851999999972 39.0791248 -94.496404999999982tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9101696.post-12967492307374322572015-01-16T16:05:00.000-06:002015-01-16T16:49:28.421-06:00Undocupoets: End Contest Discrimination!
Poets Launch Petition to End Citizenship & Residency Requirements in Contests
Roque Dalton García
"Too often, the submission guidelines read “Proof of US Citizenship” or “Legal Residents Only.” This small, but powerful, statement serves to exclude 11.7 million undocumented people (according to the Pew Research Center Hispanic Trends Project in 2013) from participating in a multitude ofMiguel M. Moraleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03434739737905270556noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9101696.post-61144605296941250682014-11-25T23:14:00.000-06:002014-11-25T23:17:39.209-06:00My Ferguson StoryI didn't want to leave the house today.
After last night's news of the failed successful non-indictment of Michael Brown's killer, I just didn't want to see people going about their lives. I didn't want to hear helpless sighs and patronizing conversations about healing or moving forward. I didnt want to hear people's mouths shooting details of the riots or debating the character of a Miguel M. Moraleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03434739737905270556noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9101696.post-61262274716021470562014-09-05T16:29:00.002-05:002014-09-05T16:29:47.588-05:00#JCCC Alert/Suspicious weapon
Alerts issued by my college yesterday after reports of an armed assailant was spotted on campus:
My poem from those alerts:
Miguel M. Moraleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03434739737905270556noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9101696.post-83397041355547325882014-04-21T15:54:00.000-05:002014-04-21T16:06:02.455-05:00His Mother Didn't Need a Man
You say his mother didn’t need
a man
and now he doesn’t know how
to be one
all because he wears skinny
jeans
and arches his eyebrows.
You blame his white faggotry
on his brown mother because
a woman should only birth
boy babies -- not raise them.
Since his mother didn't
need a man,
he doesn't buy into
all that
masculine bullshit about
what it means to be one.
Like his mother Miguel M. Moraleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03434739737905270556noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9101696.post-45896605734718887322014-01-31T17:42:00.000-06:002016-01-31T16:13:25.092-06:00For Alexia on Her 27th Birthday
I’m going to tell you a secret,
my darling girl, about how
we became a family.
Even before you were born
you changed us.
Your arrival renewed
our damaged spirits.
Nurturing our new love
required selflessness.
When we stumbled,
your faith in us set our footing.
We found strength in vulnerability.
We found wealth in giving.
We found power in peace.
Soon this Miguel M. Moraleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03434739737905270556noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9101696.post-24148334902416720112013-12-29T17:01:00.001-06:002013-12-29T17:03:34.920-06:00#TheLastYear
Today I'm 46 years old. My mom died when she was 47. This is the beginning of #TheLastYear. pic.twitter.com/F94AxEGlFY
— Miguel M. Morales (@TrustMiguel) December 28, 2013
Yesterday after a rough visit, I decided to start a new writing project called The Last Year.Miguel M. Moraleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03434739737905270556noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9101696.post-76070268502143941012013-09-11T22:45:00.000-05:002013-09-11T22:45:28.632-05:00#DiversityInSFFThe #DiversityInSFF hastag is a great conversation about the lack of diverse characters and authors in Science Fiction and Fantasy. This article in The Nation examines part of that conversation.
Rising Above the Failure of Imagination | The Nation:
"The conversation about diversity in SFF is also striking because it reveals how discrimination and its deeply embedded cultural effects are so Miguel M. Moraleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03434739737905270556noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9101696.post-21431866380309800912013-08-27T22:38:00.000-05:002013-08-31T12:16:59.460-05:00Red Ropers aka #BootShaft
My awkward performance from the Fellows Reading
at the 2013 Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBT Voices
Miguel M. Moraleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03434739737905270556noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9101696.post-36707834987016991782013-08-01T17:55:00.000-05:002013-08-02T00:58:00.358-05:00LLF DAY 5: Breaking Miguel
OK so I know I promised to keep everyone updated on the retreat. Unfortunately on the second day, I took a tumble down the stairs and have been needing crutches to get around. Navigating with them has been difficult since my room is on the 3rd floor and the meeting rooms are in another building in the second floor down and the cafeteria is just impossible to reach in my condition.
Miguel M. Moraleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03434739737905270556noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9101696.post-36939986382219307162013-07-29T16:25:00.000-05:002013-07-29T16:52:19.423-05:00LLF DAY1: Ghosts of Fellows Past
The day started at 2 AM with me loading up the car and driving to the Kansas City airport.
Economy lot.
Bus to the terminal.
Check-in.
TSA molestation.
Waiting for an hour to board.
Soccer boys on the plane.
Won the championship in KC.
One fell asleep on my shoulder.
He apologized then did it again.
Landed at LAX.
Went hunting for queer writers.
Went to the observation deck of that white Miguel M. Moraleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03434739737905270556noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9101696.post-92031025477323545452013-07-26T06:35:00.000-05:002013-07-26T06:42:50.964-05:00GOOOOAAAAAALLLLL!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks to everyone who donated to my Lambda Literary Foundation fund!
I needed to collect a whopping $1,300 and you guys exceeded that goal by $170!!
The excess funds do not go to me but they will go to the Lambda Literary Foundation which does so much to support LGBT and Queer writers. Thank you for encouraging my efforts and strengthening them.
Please follow me on Miguel M. Moraleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03434739737905270556noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9101696.post-45986393303046584832013-07-08T21:13:00.000-05:002013-07-08T21:14:03.457-05:00Sun Damaged
Working in the Texas soybean
fields as a kid
under a blazing and insolent summer
sun
that tempted him with mirages
of
cool rippling lakes along the
horizon,
he dreamed of a future working
in an chilled, air-conditioned
office.
He’d sit in a cushioned chair
and wear a dark, clean suit,
and a fresh thin tie
instead of muddy, oversized
boots
and sweaty bandannas.
He’d have shiny blackMiguel M. Moraleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03434739737905270556noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9101696.post-42107839555589291452013-06-28T17:35:00.000-05:002013-07-01T09:59:08.995-05:00¡Otra Vez!
I'M A RETURNING LLF FELLOW!
2012 LLF Fellows Kima Jones and Miguel M. Morales. photo by Kima Jones
How exciting to be a one of the few Lambda Literary Foundation Fellows who'll return to the LLF familia for the Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBT Voices at the American Jewish University campus in Los Angeles this summer!
Unfortunately, returning fellows are not eligible for Miguel M. Moraleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03434739737905270556noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9101696.post-86644207162426126802013-05-30T23:34:00.000-05:002013-06-28T14:36:00.718-05:00Miguel in Reads in Los AngelesAt Lambda Literary Foundation's 2012 Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBT Voices, 45 fellows in Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Young Adult Fiction each gave brief readings of their work.
This is mine.
Miguel M. Moraleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03434739737905270556noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9101696.post-15288165066782284542013-05-12T19:21:00.000-05:002019-05-11T01:24:29.067-05:00this photo of you | Mother's Day
Delia R. Morales
Strange how in this digital existence
when everyone uploads, tags, and shares
photos instantaneously,
I have so few pictures of you.
The scanned photos I do have
show you as a young girl
in grey tones that hint
at the depth of your spirit
and playfulness.
Other photos show an older you
more like the mom I remember
when the responsibility of being
a wife and Miguel M. Moraleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03434739737905270556noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9101696.post-28171954420940720062013-04-30T19:57:00.000-05:002013-04-30T19:57:10.652-05:00vernal | National Poetry Month
his body knows it’s too hot for
the dense kinks of his Puerto Rican hair
that comes from his mother’s side.
his body knows it’s too hot for
the curly twists of his Mexicano locks
that comes from his father’s side.
his indigenous spirit knows
it’s time for cleansing,
time to acquit the past,
time for renewal.
with a snap of the shaver,
his hair spills and tumbles
onto Miguel M. Moraleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03434739737905270556noreply@blogger.com