The second poem is titled Leave.
It's after the poet A. Van Jordan.
And I'll read its epigraph, and then begin the poem.
The island of Guam is considered an unincorporated territory that
belongs to the United States.
Citizens on Guam may serve in the US military.
Citizens on Guam cannot vote for the US president.
1 in 8 adult Guamanians is a military veteran.
The highest rate of service among all the 50 states.
Leave.
Verb 1.
Depart from permanently.
At 18 his father would leave the island
to enlist and provide his future family a life he never lived.
Verb 2.
Allow to remain.
To serve this country, you must leave behind
the one you came from.
This is mandatory.
This is impossible.
Noun 1.
Permission.
Authorized absence from duty.
Each time I took leave, it became
more difficult to return and put my uniform back on.
Verb 3.
Of a plant.
To put out new leaves.
He was obsessed with how trees leaved in spring.
The death their branches wore in winter.
Their breath that birthed a brand new season.
What is a cycle?
My two older brothers followed my father's footsteps,
and no recruiter had to convince me to fall in line.
To not fall far from the tree.
Fall in is the command to gather a group of soldiers
into formation.
I joined in the fall after graduating college.
What were we thinking?
I wasn't.
I was.
My life was leaving me.
All my life had always been leaving
one temporary best friend for another new neighbor.
One bedroom overseas for a state without seasons.
Sometimes I loved how I could outrun lonely.
My feet grew fluent in aqueous.
Fall in.
Pack up, move out.
This is the branch your brothers joined.
These are the roots your father replanted.
I left myself the day I joined.
Then left the military to get myself back.
[APPLAUSE]
To everyone who has made this fellowship possible,
I am eternally grateful.
And I just want to say,
Si Yu'os ma'åse todus hamyo!
Asta otro biåhi.
Until we meet again.
Thank you.