Tony Richard Rodriguez

Tony Richard Rodriguez was born in Fremont, California on August 22, 1977. With a degree in Liberal Studies, he graduated from San Francisco State University in 2002. He is currently a middle school teacher—Literature and English being his favorite subjects of instruction. When Tony is not getting kicked out of school, driving cross-country, making soap, writing about a special girl, playing in Pamplona, Spain, sun-tanning in San Juan, or trying to figure out what to do with this One Ring, Tony frequents karaoke dives, the ATM machine, sleeping-in, and fast food restaurants. Imaginatively, he still lives in San Francisco, California. He is the mad author of The Disappearance and the Slow Awakening, Rapid Eye Metaphors, and the forthcoming Simplicity Regurgitated: poems and shorts.

"I’ve forgotten the way to San Jose"

 

Neanderthals still fail to see connections—

ignorance blending into a state of ghetto-fabulous.

Something went wrong in their lives,

fatuous lessons coming from people labeled as homies.

We are a sacramental people,

living through a Faith that teaches us how to pray

for those who’ve never learned how

or only pray during Christmas or Easter.

Which group do I belong in?

I wish no ill will toward such ill creatures.

I only regret not being understanding during their

thug-life moments.

I’ll never sail ships or write a great sonnet

or change anyone’s point of view.

But I’ll still continue to conduct beats

worthy of being read only once.

And I pray the Neanderthals make those connections,

even though they haven’t been listening to the Faith

  that is tattooed

on their arms.