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Every S In This Poem is Telling On Me

By José Angel Araguz

I knew nothing about poems
when I was introduced to
the woman selling seashells by
the seashore. Placed in a
remedial speech class, told
my S’s served no one,
I felt set aside in
the silence of clear hallways

where I walked slow, savoring
not being where I belonged.

-

Every s sound in this poem is telling on you.

-

If these sessions were legit
or simply racist, I couldn’t
say—I mean, I couldn’t
say say supposedly, had to
sever myself from self and
sit like the silence felt
on the receiving end of:
Do you hear the difference?

-

I’m with
the S’s
that sulk
in hoodies
behind other letters.

-

I am with voice,
with chance and trace,
I am with imbalance—

only choice makes me
stop, makes me wince
to think rejoice stands

in a silent snowfall
of words without embrace.

-

Do you hear the difference?

-

I only know a seashore
where I spent hours sounding
out every s to myself,

a seashore where no one
heard what I did not
want them to: my sobs

when my report card showed
a “U” in conduct, U
for unsatisfactory, letter stamped in

place, letter like two arms
raised in surrender, while S’s
lived in every box but

the one that mattered, S’s
lined up, wave-like, crashing on
a seashore where a woman

has been set aside, like
me, to find value in
what has not yet been broken.

 

 

 

 

Listen as José Angel Araguz reads Every S In This Poem is Telling On Me.
Added: Friday, March 21, 2025  /  Used with permission.
José Angel Araguz

José Angel Araguz, Ph.D. is the author of the lyric memoir Ruin & Want (Sundress Publications) as well as the poetry collections Rotura (Black Lawrence Press) and La esperanza espera (Valparaiso Ediciones). His poetry and prose have appeared in Prairie Schooner, Poetry International, The Acentos Review, and Oxidant | Engine among other places. He is an Assistant Professor at Suffolk University where he serves as Editor-in-Chief of Salamander and is also a faculty member at large for the Solstice Low-Residency MFA Program. He blogs and reviews books at The Influence. 

Image Description: José Angel Araguz stands outside and looks slightly down toward the camera with eyebrows raised. He wears clear, square-framed glasses and a black jacket with the collar folded down. In the background are buildings and blue sky overhead.

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