are we like somewhere in sacramento
today i saw a chrysalis & thought of you
waiting for my algorithm to digitize my
own nostalgia, way i feel invisible in july
christmas—there is a tree inside a room
somewhere in los angeles—have you seen
them, behind the curtain of the firework
sky lawn, behind the tongue-tied solo cup
martini impression—sucks being the coolest
kid in the room but when i entered the
fred meyer for my taxes & a lobotomy
there was something about denial that i
refused to chew, yet everyone watched me
lacing up my surveilled body inside fiberglass
container, guilty of everything in gloom
jimmy vega is the child of Mexican immigrants, a Chicanx Los Angeles born and raised poet, writer, educator, artist, and curator. His debut poetry collection will be published by What Books Press in 2025. He holds an MFA from the School of Critical Studies, Creative Writing Program at CalArts, where they co-created the MFA in Creative Writing’s HYPERLINK reading series and a B.A. in English with a concentration in Creative Writing from UCLA. In 2023 their work was on view at The Reef Los Angeles as part of the group exhibit, Spell/ing. He is a former 2023 ELL Faculty Fellow at CalArts and is the Associate Director of Beyond Baroque Literary Arts/Center. He lives in Los Angeles, on unceded Tongva land, with Gladys and Olive.