Born in Ecuador and raised in the Bronx, Oakland poet Oscar Bermeo has been spending a fair amount of time discovery his new city and being inspired by The Town's rich narrative.

“Oakland is full of stories" he says. "Everywhere I turn there are people sharing out their lives in rich descriptive language that is just waiting to get documented. Sometimes, they share it out with me and when I tell them I’m a writer they are more than happy to let me have creative license with their life stories."

Bermeo is the author of the poetry chapbooks Anywhere Avenue, Palimpsest and Heaven Below.  He is also BRIO (Bronx Recognizes Its Own), VONA (Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundation) and IWL (Intergenerational Writers Lab) writing fellow. When not digging into the area's cultural and poetry scene Bermeo says he's busy "working on a series of poems examining my relationship between Oakland, my new home, and the Bronx, my old stomping grounds."

B-Boy Primer

After the Sarum Primer with a shout out to Patrick Rosal

City be in my mind, and in my awareness;

City be in my glare, and in my prevision;

City be in my verse, and in my aesthetic;

City be in my stance, and in my intention;

City be at my ruin, and at my turn.

Nomenclature

The village is called Barrio Viejo but changed its name to just Barrio. Some still call it Viejo but only if you remember how to properly tell the story of the Sun, of when it came back from hiding, how it fell out of love with the Moon, of when it blessed the Viejos with the gift of blindness.

Some call it Poor, Ghetto, Over There or the Other Side of _______, but these names come from stories that Barrio Viejo has many twins, all with different mothers and the same one father–Neglect.

Some of Neglect’s children include the Hood, the Trailer Park, the One-Horse Town, the Sticks, Boonies, the Boondocks, Bundok, Bundu, Backblocks, Bantustan, the Projects, (name of closest bus/train stop), (number of nearest intersecting street), the Low _____, the Lower ____, and Little ______.

This all comes from Barrio Viejo, who acknowledges no single alphabet or authoritative writing, who never tells a story that can only be told once, nor bothers to write much of anything down. So I might be telling you the story of how these places birthed a child with many faces named Neglect looking for a way out, or I could be telling you how Neglect was bottled into a glass city.

Selections from The Barbershop Reading Series

Congruence

urban renewal ≅neighborhood relocation

eminent domain ≅expropriate property

public authority ≅municipal corporation

harmless beautification ≅pathological optimism

city planning ≅planned shrinkage

public housing ≅arterial development

suburban sprawl ≅accelerated drainage

benign neglect ≅public policy

empowerment zone ≅private investments

civic project ≅disaster porn

land development ≅family displacement

fine intention ≅public disavowal

Heaven Below

Because we know dirt, but we don’t know earth

Because we know trees, but we don’t know forest

Because we know haze, but we don’t know air

Because we know sprinklers, but we don’t know rain

Because we know housing, but we don’t know homes

Because we know sirens, but we don’t know aid

Because we know welfare, but we don’t know reform

Because we know libation, but we don’t know tears

Because we know bodegas, but we don’t know marquetas

Because we know the game, but we don’t know the rules

Because we know the block, but we don’t know the world

For all this, we pray to heaven above

For all this, we pray for heaven below

In 2010, Bermeo and wife, poeta Barbara Jane Reyes plan to launch a new Oakland based small press, Doveglion Books, focused on showcasing writers of colors. Bermeo also has poems forthcoming in the literary journals Eleven Eleven and 580 Split. For more on Oscar and his poetry, visit him online at www.oscarbermeo.com.

Oakland Poets is our weekly feature highlighting The Town's talented wordsmiths.  If you know someone we should feature or would like your work considered, email Kwan@oaklandlocal.com.