I hear hakuna matata and I return to a VHS tape afternoon in 1994—  rewind and echo. My  inner child knows a good tune and how to harmonize with the homies. My saving grace I can trust is still criss crossed on the couch. My homie calls to tell me of her first child. I opened up the playground in my voice; the screams only the swings can bring. Cascade of god bless you’s. It was the beginning of The Lion King and all the Earth’s creatures were coming to offer their gaze. Their spotted blessings and hooved curtsey.  For whatever future she’ll raise for all to witness. How can we keep these universe secrets? And of course, I had to tell my mama. And of course, she thought I was expecting but not the case. This was just extraordinary chisme about how life continues without us. This is a precious extension of time. My inner child telling all of the truth-stories. You must know children make translucent liars. In 1994, outside of an elementary school in Zimbabwe, a large group of children all claimed to see a hovering silver saucer land less than 50 feet away. The Grey creatures with big eyes emerge in black suits, run in shadow-glitches, never saying a word. But multiple children, when interviewed alone and together claimed to not have the luxury of disbelief. Mind-projections from the visitors asked them, to take care of our planet, how we mustn’t get too technological. A forest on fire. 1994. Why would all 62 children lie about what they saw? Adults lie. One time, outside the Planned Parenthood near Astor Place, someone told me they spoke for God and claimed to see right through me. A shadow glitch. But I know they couldn’t. They had no idea of the child running like a zebra inside, the light bursting in them too. To tell the truth.

Karl Michael Iglesias is a Puerto Rican actor, director and writer from Milwaukee, WI, who now resides in Brooklyn, NY. His poetry can be read in the Florida Review, RHINO, the Brooklyn Review, the Madison Review, the Hong Kong Review and the Academy of American Poets, to name a few. Karl is the author of the poetry chapbooks CATCH A GLOW and The Bounce—both available from Finishing Line Press. karlmichaeliglesias.com