The Future Isn’t What It Used To Be

I began to write my first novel in 2017. I started writing it as a final project for my
Literature of New Jersey class. The name of the book I am writing is A Wise Man
Once Said Nothing. Two years later and I only about 70 pages in. The novel is very
loosely based on the story of one of my favorite family members. The story of my
uncle Lidio Arturo Nin Terrero, we all call him by his middle name “Arturo” which
is spanish for Arthur. At the age of 42 Years old my uncle was arrested in the
Dominican Republic with over 2,000 kilos of cocaine. He was arrested in connection
to the biggest drug kingpin in the caribbean at the time, a man who went by the name
“Quirino.” Quirino Ernesto Paulino Castillo was leader of the Dominican Military in
2003, while my uncle was the colonel of the biggest province of the south in the
Dominican Republic. In the novel I use pseudonyms so it not really a Biography, but
it tell a very similar story. I am very excited about this project and I hope to finishing
writing it very soon. I will be going to the dominican Republic this summer to do more
research for this novel.  

The piece that I will share in my presentation is a poem that I wrote to serve as a prologue
for my novel. The name of the poem is “The Future Isn’t What It Used To Be.”  I think I
am going to write a few more poems that I will scatter around the novel to open a few
chapters. I am passionate about creative writing and I hope to impress the class with what
I have so far for this prologue. It is however not done, i hope to make it much longer and
encompass more of the story within the prologue. What I have so far is a narrative of  the
marriage between life and death. In the poem you can see my protagonist’s growth. My
protagonist’s name is Lido Santana but he goes by the name “Truji” which is short for
Trujillo,former dictator of the Dominican Republic. Truji tells the story from a cell
serving the final week of his prison sentence. He boasts about how many women he had,
how much money he spent, and how many enemies whose lives he spared but left with
nothing. Lido was a misogynistic, power hungry, money hungry beast, but was also
extremely family oriented. He did a lot to take of the ones he loved.

I was having trouble with connecting my piece to the readings we had this semester. My
book does in a way connect to Windy Star because it does reflect upon people in my
family. It does also connect to our readings on gender and race. As well as our readings
about aging and seeing ourselves in the future.

This is an Excerpt of my Poem  

The Future Isnt What It Used To Be

Taking my life is the only thing new that you could do to me,

but you took a few from me,

some of my friends got graduation speeches, but more of them got eulogies.

That's why I pray,

and If heaven had visitation, I swear i would be there everyday.

Or maybe not, because that dark past is somewhere that i’m trying to escape,

I would love to tell you the truth, but i rather wait, until it's too late.

My scars tell a tale that i will never tell, but you will hear about them one day.

A wise man once said nothing...