Alan Chazaro

PSYCHOANALYSIS OF A PIÑATA

The fault line between me runs north
from south, a zag

splitting my skull and bursting
my edges. These ribs are ridges
rubbing dangerous—

friction
to make worlds

shake with color.

There is movement
within me,

earthquakes
as my therapy. I make sweetness
out of dark, make fire

out of teeth,
my shape

an ash-bound phoenix. Tonight

I live to be undone—

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Alan Chazaro is a high school teacher at the Oakland School for the Arts. Currently, he is pursuing an MFA in Writing as a Lawrence Ferlinghetti Fellow at the University of San Francisco, and is a June Jordan Poetry for the People alum at UC Berkeley. Most recently, he received an AWP Intro Journals Award, which was selected by 2017 Pulitzer Prize winner, Tyehimba Jess. His poems have appeared in various journals including Huizache, The Cortland Review, Borderlands, Juked, Hotel Amerika, and Public Pool. You can usually find him wearing Bay Area sports apparel and listening to West Coast throwbacks.