Willie Perdomo
WILLIE PERDOMO is the author of The Crazy Bunch (Penguin Poets, 2019) The Essential Hits of Shorty Bon Bon (Penguin Poets, 2014), a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and winner of the International Latino Book Award; Smoking Lovely (Rattapallax, 2004), winner of the PEN Open Book Award, and Where a Nickel Costs a Dime (Norton, 1996), a finalist for the Poetry Society of America Norma Farber First Book Award. His work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Norton Anthology of Latino Literature, Poetry, Bomb Magazine, and African Voices. He is currently a Lucas Arts Program Literary Fellow and teaches English at Phillips Exeter Academy. Source
That’s My Heart Right There
We used to say,
That’s my heart right there.
As if to say,
Don’t mess with her right there.
As if, don’t even play,
That’s a part of me right there.
In other words, okay okay,
That’s the start of me right there.
As if, come that day,
That’s the end of me right there.
As if, push come to shove,
I would fend for her right there.
As if, come what may,
I would lie for her right there.
As if, come love to pay,
I would die for that right there.
Published:
2019
Length:
Shorty
Literary Movements:
Contemporary
Anthology Years:
2024
Themes:
Love & Relationships
Literary Devices:
Analogy
a figure of speech that creates a comparison by showing how two seemingly different entities are alike, along with illustrating a larger point due to their commonalities
Couplets
two lines of verse, usually in the same meter and joined by rhyme, that form a unit
End Rhyme
when a poem has lines ending with words that sound the same
Epistrophe
the repetition of a word or phrase at the end of successive clauses
Repetition
a recurrence of the same word or phrase two or more times
Rhyme
correspondence of sound between words or the endings of words, especially when these are used at the ends of lines of poetry