Sonnet with Baldwin

I.
my iphone wallpaper’s an image of baldwin
sitting on a rocking chair/ legs crossed/
looking into the distance/ smoking a
cigar / sometimes/ i can see the smoke/
coming out/ my phone/ sometimes/ i
can feel baldwin/ entering/ my room/
sometimes i can feel/ his spirit/ invade me/

II.
my abuela/says when the spirit invades you/
you dance/ when it invades you/ you sing
or you shout/ or you raise your arms or
you’re brought to your knees/ but when
the spirit invades me/ my mouth can’t move/
my body can’t move/ the spirit sings/ and
dances/ but my body/ forgets/ about itself

Alejandro Pérez is a student at Columbia University in New York. He is a 2019 Pushcart Prize nominee whose poems and flash fiction pieces have appeared or are forthcoming in Pacifica Literary Review, DIAGRAM, Blue Earth Review, Typehouse Magazine, decomP, Santa Clara Review, HEArt Online, and Jellyfish Review.