it’s pretty much official now, el reverendo pedro pietri has passed away. the nuyorican has an official annoucement. i’ve known since last night but i figured that it is the duty of others closer to el rev to announce the news.

i am not good when it comes to these matters. simultaneously, i am hot and cold. i only got to hear pietri read once and for most of the time, i was running around trying to line up the rest of the open mic for an event that was being left, for the most part, unattended. what i did get to hear was precise, funny, moving and socio-political commentary at its finest. initial impressions are powerful and i saw nothing to discount the reputation of the man as a sincere, down to earth poet who was always ready to lend any assistance to an up and coming poet. the man even passed me his number and said i should call if anything. i didn’t. calling people has never been a forte of mine. meeting new people has never been that big a strong suit of mine. for every one of y’all that thinks different i can probably point out how some other random incident actually brought us together and it probably had little to do with any boldness or initiative on my part.

i’ve seen death really close both literally (when will passed away on the highway) and figuratively (when my mom passed). times like this i don;t even know what to say to myself much less others. i try to bring that old maxim into play that says this world is a nasty, ugly place most of the time and any place other than this has to be better… sometimes, i believe it. most times, i don’t. i still think that this plane is as good as it’s gonna get and that ghosts only haunt us out of boredom.

yesterday, a spirit passed through my body sometime around 5pm when i was IMing rich. i made it a point to let him know that fact. something had just ruffled my pant leg and then i had a feeling that a hand was touching through my belly and into my stomach, it then shot up through my spine and tingled my head. el espiritu me paso. and now, i am feeling a lot more sadder than i did when i started this post.