Legio (camp) becomes León (city) becomes Juan Ponce
de León (rapist) becomes Ponce (city)
Colón (rapist) spits colonize (rape)
spites colony (body)
How the rapists name the bodies
and the bodies grow up
into territory
*
King David (rapist) so close to God
he sinned so mightily so mightily he sinned
He mightily forgave and gave
the holy world
his name
Beloved of God
my name my father’s name
*
At school the kids would call my father Poncé.
My cousin calls me Junior.
His soldiers call him U.S. Army Staff Sergeant.
His father is Black.
Like many American men he carries (viral) the name of his enslaver.
*
What you survive survives you
*
The body a catalog
each line
lashed to the shores of Spain
as portolan
*
As my grandfather is catalogued
in an urn with the USMC logo as his father
dead by violence
in Santurce
where is he cataloged?
*
I misplaced, forgot, never knew.
I, his
namesake.
—David M. de León (from [PANK])