Shang Hai

Shang Hai,
originally uploaded by Jack Raif.

I started writing this poem in the city of Shang Hai, I ended up finishing it a few weeks later in Beijing. I performed it twice in The International Open Mic at the Bookworm in Beijing the 10 and 17 of May, 2006. Hope you like it...

Jack Raif


In this Paper

In this paper
I leave a statement
I exist
I am here
Or there
But I am who I was
Who I will be
Not who I am
But I am.

These cities, these countries
Are all a part of me

I write in English
But I am Panamanian
North America is in my eyes
But my heart belongs to Asia.
And usually I am mistreated
Because I dont fit the stereotype
Most people cant relate
To a two language speaking mind
A white skin man,
Who grew up black.
Who dont prejudge
But relies on first impression
Who knows poverty,
But now knows money,

Who has traveled from nowhere to somewhere, east to west, north to south, being dead, being alive, stripped the night sky of clouds to see that the future was all around.

I have fed my hungry soul
With multitude vibes from humans abroad
They have taught me many ways of thoughts
Points of view, enraging fire that makes evolution what it is
A constant movement to the future,
Unstoppable they say,
I say manipulate able

And some want to talk about freedom
When they are encaged in their little brains
Then blame the state for their lack of knowledge
I blame them for their lack of curiosity
If you search it
You will find it
Knowledge is out there.
You just have to grasp it.

I, with my very own eyes, have seen,
Night sky when I approach sleep,
Sun rise kissing my skin,
I have seen people come and go
I have laughed, I have cried, I have hated, I have loved,
And I only want to live just to watch where society is going,
I only want to live to see the next chapter of my life
To tell them who I was, but will be,
Not who I am,
But I am,

As I told them one day:

While most pedestrians choose to walk the easy path
Road Bridges, safety lines
And follow signs,
I love to walk blind folded in traffic
And get hit by life
There is no easy way to walk with the Gods
Incandescent, untouchable, unreachable,
In loneliness that makes them who they are,
Legends, immortal in time.
Thats who I am.

Yeah Baby, and Im not talking about my racoon infested state of mind, with a slick vibe and smooth taste for soliloquizing my ideas, its ever present in my egocentric nick nack paddywack dance, its a kiss to the sky for letting me be, who I will.

Let me be proud of my self-esteem
and dwell in different tracks of existence to find identity. I love this latino infested creativity or rhythms and agnostic precognition... I have turn into a reptile imbedded in skins of many ideals, of many cultures of many souls. I am not one anymore in the sense that I represent many but many makes up one... me.