MICRO-SUEÑO


era el principio de los tiempos
y un edificio
desaparecía en tu espalda

en tus labios navegaba
el barco de los sueños
tu rostro concentrado
en el periódico
sobre la mesa
aritmética
y operaciones matemáticas
como evidencia
de lo importante que
es en la vida
la numerología del amor

era el principio de los tiempos
descubría el arte de un nuevo
conocimiento

cuento
y comprendo que la belleza
está depositada en
el templo de tu alma
que tu frente y tu sonrisa
conspiran
en sostener mi corazón

CAFÉ AMERICANO


eso significa que no
entonces
eso significa que no

¿qué haces?
un poema
¿con eso?
sí

no sé...

y sus pies eran
más deliciosos que el azúcar
y su risa
más preciosa
que los manantiales
una galaxia de suspiros
en cada uno de sus ojos

¿todo lo vas acabar así?
¿así cómo?
no sé

hay
iba subir agua
y se me olvidó

su tos
me persuade
a estar enfermo

¿me pasas un caramelito de menta por favor?
sí por amor

el desayuno
estaba delicioso
que rico
pero el desayuno
eran sus ojos aceitunados
y ella comía chocolate

y el café cortadito
comenzó a sangrar
pero no le dolía
porque emanaba cafeína

SUEÑOS CON LOS OJOS ABIERTOS


abrí los ojos
y miré los tuyos
y el mundo se reflejaba en ellos

abrí mis labios
y me esperaban tus labios
ornamento de tu aliento

el día se hizo noche
y la noche día
sonó el eco de nuestras risas

el planeta giró
un poco más rápido
y las miradas invisibles
buscaron el mejor enfoque

afuera en la lejanía
los perros ladraban
y las avionetas daban vueltas

SKY


The pilot with shaky hands
Has eyes out of control
He walks nervously amongst the passengers

Above the clouds
And below his fears
Almost at the 1000 miles per hour

The sneer he had in New York
Has vacated his face
Maybe he’s cold & that’s why
He put a blue sweater on
It makes him look combersum

Someone else is flying this aircraft
Since the Atlantic is
A hard-cold surface at night

IN PHARAOH’S HAREM


When Sarah entered Egypt
She knew what she wanted
She wanted to get down to business
But she got a mortgage instead

When Sarah entered Egypt
Pharaoh gave in
Losing part of his stock
Losing part of his life

When Sarah left Egypt
She took with her
A time bomb
And her husband tripped it
And Ishmael was born

When Sarah was jealous
She was just Sarah
Longing after the onions of Egypt

ACCORDING TO THE FRENCH ARCHITECT


This hole has a tissue that is disintegrating
As if being eaten by bacteria
It conveys a stunning dose of reality

It is a net with bigger holes
A huge hole
Filled with millions of smaller holes

What a work of art!

The cameras are witnesses
To this tragedy
A disastrous event that is celebrated
As a magnificent achievement

This is a symbol
Of laughter
And lamentations

PORSCHE BOXTER

A la nube
Le falta
Un seno
Se perdió
En una cena
A la nube
Le hace falta
Porque los senadores
Se lo comieron

Dos bautismos en un día es todo un desafío, lo bueno que se celebraban en la misma comunidad y no en diferentes ciudades y el carro estaba nuevo y era convertible, de ingeniería alemana. Yo viajaba en el asiento del pasajero, el único asiento de pasajero porque sólo tenía dos plazas. Mi hermano conducía en alta velocidad pero se sentía como si el auto fuera a 30 millas por hora. Para el retén de policía era una velocidad más alta. No señalaron para que nos detuviéramos.

— A ver… bájate colega.

Me dijo el policía cuando se acercó a mi ventana. Abrí la puerta y me bajé y miré a los demás policías que, de la misma forma, me miraban. El que me dijo colega tomó mi lugar en el carro y cerró la puerta. Permaneció unos momentos sin decir nada, sólo miraba el interior del auto, y guardaba su silencio.

— ¡Qué chingón huele! Dijo finalmente.
— Sí oficial, lo compré hace unos días. Dijo el conductor.
— Simón, es olor a carro nuevo. Dice el chota para después bajarse del carro en silencio y alejarse.

Me subí al carro y nos fuimos, me quedé pensando en el olor a carro nuevo, ese olor que causa cáncer y que le gustó tanto al uniformado. Y el agua corría por en medio de la ciudad como si fuese un río, o muchos ríos, como si las calles fueran de agua y de repente pensé: que buen lugar para celebrar bautismos. Agua por doquier. Cuando estábamos por llegar al final, donde están los peñascos a un lado del mar, el carro se llenó de polvo. Y me di cuenta que todo el mundo también se convierte en polvo.

HETAIRAS


Write about the hetairas she said
Write so they can wake up
Write so we might discover them

All along the conversation
I was trying to figure out
What a hetaira is
But I could definitely feel
More than I could understand

Now that their men
Have been taken down
The hetairas have taken over

They excel in
The art of politics
The art of desire
The art of the eye

The hetairas have been around us
For a very long time

This is
A state of mind

But above all else
It is the workings of
The world

MEXICAN DINER


I met you at diner
I told you I was falling in love with you
And you said you felt the same

For the next six months
I looked for you
In that Mexican diner
And I always found you

And we chatted
From sunup
To sundown

I spoke poetry to you
And you spoke poetry back to me
I told you were my muse
And you sat there
Biting your lips

We dreamt with our eyes open
And celebrated our secret rituals
At that Mexican diner

Then I took you with me to California
And then I invited you to my secret place
I laid on my bed
And you placed you face down on the table
And looked at me
As I tried not to fall asleep

One early morning
Or one late night
I don’t remember which
You asked if I would let you
Take care of me

And you looked so dangerously beautiful
And even though I answered your question
You told me I did not seem too convinced

You looked so beautiful then
As you do look beautiful now
And one day
It seemed like a day to me
But it might have been a night for you
You told me how you felt

And your feelings resonated in my heart
Like a close encounter of the third kind
I knew then you need it more of me
Like I need more of you

It did not happened every time
But when we concentrated
We could make the light
Shine in both hemispheres
At the same time

YOU LOOK KILLER


The sport kills
No need to impress friends
This game kills
Diversion only breeds desire

This risk will put you to sleep
This chance kills
Practice makes perfect
So unfortunately exact

I like being imperfect
These skills make you a dreamer
This craft kills

Friends don’t let friends drive proud

The road kills
The bed kills
The ring kills

The dance floor….

The detective said:
While she danced
She fell dead
In the arms of her partner

This life kills
Eventually everybody
Crosses the finish line

These feelings kill
You better not be too sentimental
For a decent heart rate

Sex kills
Food kills
Work kills
Leisure kills

And pretty soon
The kills start sounding
Like videogame credits

Your eye can kill you
And you hand too
You ear
Your tongue
Your breathing passages
Your everything’s
And your nothingness
All of these and so many more
Can efficiently put you to rest

WE RIDE OUR BICYCLES


We ride our bicycles
And the girl in front
Starts playing with her lighter
She put the flint to work
And the sparks hit the darkness
Next to the ocean

We ride our bicycles
And we have to stop
To listen to the music
The lighter girl has unleashed a fire
And the music is fuel

We ride out bicycles
And stop to grab something to eat
We parked our bikes next to the restaurant’s
Delivery motorcycle
Our rides are better

We ride our bicycles
Through the park
On the boardwalk
Next to the sunset
Through musicians
Painters and poets

We ride our bicycles home
And play with the Indian summer
Happiness on two wheels
Love is exercise

FESTIVAL


The guitars sounded great
In different stages
Sounded splendid
At the same time
And with different songs

The people danced
The children played
The night was warm

And the ocean always so near
Always working
Purifying what needs to be purified

The aftertaste of salt
The aroma of the sea
The sublime flavor of drink

AFTER SUNSET


The modern cowboys asked for my help
Help us round up the horses
They said

And they had a 4x4
And I had my bicycle

I told them you need horses
To round up horses

You are not from around here?
One of them asked
I lived up the hill I said

They said thank you
And drove away towards the horses

I walked up the hill
With my bicycle by my side

When I reached the road
I turned the strobe on
And rode on the country side

FOREST

The foliage turns colors
It becomes a bed and a pillow
For animals & human beings

SPECTRUM


The face of the woman
Is on the window
It is slightly tilted

The face of the woman
Grows with the window
Early in the morning

The face of this woman
Facing away from the ocean

The face of this woman
With dried eye sockets
Ready to be connected to the grid

This face mutating on the window
This face moving with regret

This face changing gender
This face changing species
This face trading dreams
This face of silent screams

ANTE LA PUESTA DEL SOL


dos barcos toman el sol
descansan sobre el agua
agua de lumbre al rededor de sus proas

la pequeña embarcación escapa
de las llamas líquidas
olas en llamas

el grande permanece
bajo los efectos del sol
que ahora se esconde
en la desintegración
de las nubes

el pequeño pescador
viaja hacia el sur
el de los tanques de piedad
se esconden junto a él

también detrás de la risa
detrás de las brisas
entre los cantos de agua
detrás de las sirenas expatriadas
detrás de la enfadada iluminación de las islas
detrás de la neblina

el rascacielos
es frágil
ante la puesta del sol

lanzo piedras a la mosca torpe
ante la puesta del sol
con el sudor de mi frente
ante la puesta del sol
un trago más
ante la puesta del sol

ALARM


You said not to worry
That everything would be fine
And I believed you
But you tripped your own alarm

And you could not turned it off
And your father came down
And stumbled with me

He shut the alarm off
And I felt embarrassed
Even though I didn’t do anything
I was just a witness of circumstance

I looked at you
And you were
Pretty & nonchalant
Smoking cigarettes

I began speaking to your dad
And he was surprisingly cool
He said it might take
A year and half
To repair the damage done

But your mother
Would not speak to me

We walked outside and
He pointed to the sky and said
Look at number 11

He went back in
To get a telescope
You were still smoking
And I was watching
Planets eating planets

PRETTY


How beautiful you look in a white dress
In denim jeans & baseball hat
You look great too

Your long black hair
Is the extension of my nights

When you cross the street
You look sad but pretty still
You look pretty when you sing
And pretty when you sleep

You look pretty on the other side of the world
Pretty on the other side of my heart

Pretty on the sand
Sprayed painted blue
Pretty like the water that reaches your ankles

WALKIE TALKIES


The machinegun toting policeman
Signaled me to stop at the a checkpoint
He asked me for my drivers license
And I took it out of my wallet
And handed it to him

What do you for a living?
He asked
I am writer
I answered
Is this your car?
He pressed on
It is my car
I said

What can you tell me about your radio?
He continued
I can tell you it is a multi-band radio
Okay you can go he said

I drove myself home
But first to the store
To get something to drink

I was thinking
As I drove
I was comparing this episode
With the Feds incident

When I answered the Federales
The occupation question
One them asked
How many works have you published?
I suppose he was the intellectual agent

This time I was ready
And the last time I was ready too
I am always ready

To create a haiku on the spot
Or if I am feeling brave
I can spit out a sonnet in real time

But they always want to know
About the radios
I believe that when all
Is said and done
They’re just children
Like I am just a child
And both they and I
Have always liked walkie talkies

DRIVE


The traffic completely stopped
And when I was about the change lanes
The band began to play
It was definitely rock & roll because they were
Literally rocking and rolling on the roof of a bus
And the drummer was hitting them drums
And the bass guitar
Was making the streets vibrate
And the cars were shaking too
I began to feel comfortable
I knew it would be a good night

Like when the Hummer in front of me
Was being exhaustively searched by the army
And the soldiers looked happy doing their job
And I felt happy to be watching such a spectacle
Childhood heroes saving my day

I drove into the night
Amongst scared drivers
Broken cars & broken hearts
Broken streets & broken minds
I drove the best I could
I drove with tenacity
Holding a restless wheel
Holding my restless dreams

I stopped at a convenience store
and grabbed a six pack
Waited my turn in line as a stressed out
Cashier hurried the best she could
There was a drifter behind me with apple soda
And he said to me:
This will not cure me but I will refresh me
And he looked at my six pack and telepathically
He said: I’ll trade you
And telepathically I answered him: No

In front of me was a man
With his young daughter
He was holding a large & heavy water bottle
And he looked generally unhappy
But the concern for his daughter was
What kept him alive
When it was my turn I paid my sixty pesos
The cashier said thank you
I said you welcome
And walked outside towards my car
Being followed by a stream of suspicious glances

And at the house the words
It is so good to see you!
But it sounds better in Spanish
And it was good to see them too
Because it its good to see poets & writers
Specially if there’s enough seafood & wine

And as you were having your dream
She approached me and said
I like ice-cream

And I was going to answered her
Saying that I like ice-cream too
But I was called by the intellectual couple
In the corner of the room
Sat on the sofa next to them
And they asked me about current poetic trends
And I said something like:
It is a simple as speaking
Pretty similar to what we are doing right now

And the ice-cream girl was looking at me
From a distance and was raising her voice
As she spoke

So I walked to terrace and light up my cigar
Looked at the tallest hill in the city
On its top there were repeaters
Blinking in the night
On its bottom there were crazy taxi drivers
And a SUV’s gone insane
The smoke from my cigar
Made it all better