Jose Padua: My Introduction to the Hierarchy of Beings

I must admit that when
I was a child one of the first
things that made me appreciate
my tropical roots was
the mango.
When I dug into its rough
sweet flesh with my teeth
and my mother smiled
at me as if to say “Not
everyone gets to eat this.”
And I began to love
little by little
the taste of being
from somewhere else.
Learned the pleasure of looking
at the world
from a distance.
And understood
with the taste
on my tongue
that the biggest fools
in the universe
were those men and women
in beautiful clothes
who ruled over
us.

Photo by Jose Padua: “The photograph of Julien, Maggie, and my brother Tony was taken on Mt. Pleasant St in DC in late September, 2014.”