Rudy Francisco

The word “repurpose”

means to take an object

and give it amnesia.

It means to make something forget what

it’s been trained to do so you can

use it for a better reason.

I am learning that the difference between

a garden and a graveyard is only what

you choose to put in the ground.

I came across a picture of a strange-looking violin.

The caption said it was made out of a rifle

and I was like,

someday

that can be me.

can hardly recognize, a photocopy of an instrument

my fingers never learned how to play and all I know is that

there is an epic sleeping underneath my tongue and I have

a story worth telling so here I am, pouring the containers

that I keep behind my eyes with plans to baptize you

in all the things I’ve seen. Hoping these words will be the

fire hydrant on your street corner and you will run

On days like this,

I am the house and

the ghost,

responsible for my

own haunting.

My brain is a revolver

with “Am I good enough?”

in every chamber.

So I turn into a factory that

only makes the word “yes”

and I say it until it can easily

be mistaken for the truth,

but my voice shakes

and the answer still sounds

like a question.

On days like this,

I am the house and

the ghost,

responsible for my

own haunting.

My brain is a revolver

with “Am I good enough?”

in every chamber.

So I turn into a factory that

only makes the word “yes”

and I say it until it can easily

be mistaken for the truth,

but my voice shakes

and the answer still sounds

like a question.

On days like this,

I am the house and

the ghost,

responsible for my

own haunting.

My brain is a revolver

with “Am I good enough?”

in every chamber.

So I turn into a factory that

only makes the word “yes”

and I say it until it can easily

be mistaken for the truth,

but my voice shakes

and the answer still sounds

like a question.

There was a moment in my life

when I couldn’t tell the difference

between a window and a mirror.

I could look into both

and see everything

but myself.

Your God stole my God’s identity.

So next time you bend your knees,

next time you bow your head

I want you to tell your God

that my God is looking for him.

is to say,

a weapon will always be a weapon

but we choose how we fight the war

and from this I learned that even our most

destructive instruments can still create a melody