IMPROVISING


This is my friend Juan
He is a poet and he can help you
With your Spanish lessons today

Just for today?
She asked
But Fernando left the living room

I sat on the chair
She sat across from me on the sofa
What are you having problems with?
I asked
Conjugating verbs she said
I suggest we begin speaking Spanish right now
Estoy cansada
She said
¿Por qué estás cansada?
I asked
Mmm how do you say school in Spanish?
Escuela
Okay then: porque yo escuela
¿Porqué estás es la escuela?
I was in school

What you are trying to say is you are tired
Because you were at school?
I asked

Yes
Okay then you can say it like this:
Estoy cansada porque estuve en la escuela
She repeated the sentence
And I liked her pronunciation

Later that night at the bar
Fernando asked about haiku
Once again

5/7/5 is that right Juan?
That is correct Fernando
Can we write one right now?
Sure!
I said

And we came out with this:

CERVEZA

El río grita
Dentro de mis entrañas
Cielo nublado

LA VENTANA DEL AVIÓN


si me voy a partir la madre
quiero ver bien
tener la mejor perspectiva
el primer angulo
si es de día me gustaría atravesar las nubes
por la noche me concentraría
en las luces de la ciudad
en sus destellos y sus hechizos
en los helicópteros
que vuelan debajo de nosotros
pero arriba de ellos
si voy a caer de esa forma
quiero tener esa visión antes de empezar
a caminar sobre la tierra

CYCLISTS


They sat next to us
They were charismatic
Shared cigarettes
And drank expensive beverages

The German one said

With each drink
People look more beautiful

She made me think
About the students of aesthetics
And their love affairs with wine

Her cell phone rang and
She said something like

They are taking me home
They’re Mexicans but they are nice
I’ll be alright

They knew the art of humor
We laughed as we drove them home
We all agreed it was best not ride
A bicycle while inebriated

We left them at the house and drove away
And the humor was exchanged
For red white and blue lights

That flashed on the walls of the city
On the storefronts
The boulevards
On the faces of late night minorities

STRONG HOUSE


I knocked on their door
And 3 children opened
I asked if their parents were home
Mom is but dad is not
They answered
Can you call her?
They all ran in unison and came back
With her

Juan so nice to see you!!!!!

At the dinner table
We ate Italian ingredients
And drank Italian wine

And their 8 year old daughter
Played and incredible composition
On the family’s piano
And she said
I wrote it when I was
6 years old

The boy that likes to
Play at imaginary
Gun battles began to call me
Juan the Swan

And the other two
Were busy fighting over ice-cream
As their parents and I
Enjoyed the wine

The other child
Spoke poetic
He said:

The octopus lollipop
Looking at the open wound
The blood pours like wine

It was good to see them happy
Their parents were also happy
But they just don’t know
How happy they really are

FOUND


I found contrition once again
Hidden inside a service book
In the Buddhist temple
As they meditated I tried not to
Make too much noise
As I flipped the pages

I understand more why people meditate
It is to keep their sanity
Their meditation was lulling me to sleep
But I was not there to fall asleep
I was there to find the word I was
Looking for

Afterwards we drove to a restaurant
Its walls were decorated with skulls
We sat on a table next to a bar
Ordered our food & drinks
And began to consider life
Our food arrived and we began eating
And talking about existence

That’s looks good
Said one of the girls sitting next at the bar
My friend took her task for their innuendo
And made them order fish
The same as him

The bartender felt somewhat threatened
As he clamored for their attention
My friend told him to behave
Or he would tell the owner he was interfering
With the customers good ambiance

My girlfriend is a technical writer he said
And she took me to a poetry reading
But I did not like it
I did not feel like applauding the poets
There were just words without any feeling
I asked him if he liked his meditation ways
And he said yes
Then I think you will like haiku

I told him about the 5-7-5 rule
About the day and night
About the time of year
About how it should say so much
With so little
And he came out was this:

La Calaca

Las chicas guapas
Hambrientas de nosotros
Noche brillosa

Then the owner came to our table
And asked if everything was fine
He said yes
I said yes
And we talked about cinema
And about the haiku
Send it to me she said
I will place it next to the skulls

Then she invited us to her office
We talked about Benedetti & Jorodosky
The barman also entered and identified
Himself as a middleman
He seemed a little nervous
But I shook his hand
And told him I would like
To do business with him

COMO CASI SIEMPRE


La mañana llega como casi siempre
temerosa de lo que puede ocurrir
cuestión sospechosa
caprichosa porque sólo es
un momento finito
con una determinación
que sólo está ocurriendo
en intermitencias frecuentes

en el aire el amor es más evidente
a miles de metros de la tierra
sobre las nubes efímeras
en las caricias del aliento del creador
que sacuden el avión
poniendo a prueba
la elasticidad de mis nervios

pero la nave lleva tu nombre
y tu hermosura impregna la cabina
tu belleza sobre una mesa
descansa mirándome
quedándose dormida
yo también cierro mis ojos

NIGHT OUT


I saw the old man drinking coke
Once again tonight
This time there was no commentary
From my boys

I figured he got to reach old age
Because of the same reason George Burns did
And not from drinking the cola drink

Nonetheless I thought of you again
Because one member of the group
Who was next to us
Had your profile & school girl manners

And wondered if I would need to write
Some sort of similar letter
To a future grandchild

Always thought of writing letters to my children
But this was the first time
I entertained the idea of my children’s offspring

I asked if they liked
This movie better than yesterdays flick
They said they liked them both about the same

On our way home
We stopped at our favorite taco stand
There was a woman in a red car
She seemed to be waiting for us

We did not pay much attention
Because we were hungry
And wanted to eat some carne asada

The kids got the table
They follow the protocol flawlessly
And I felt so proud

The woman in red had an attendant with her
They both got out of their vehicle
And sat close to us

We won she said
And her friend took out his cell phone
And make some calls

We won all over the state she said
As we bit the best red meat in the world
And cars honking and weaving flags
Were driving by & the boys began
To make comments about bread

GHOST


I place the photograph
Where I like it
And it keeps
Moving it back
Putting it back
And I place it again
And it moves it back
And we do this
On and on
I never thought
Such annoyance
Would be funny

RETROCESO


revolucionario derribado
ante el gigante de plasma
yaces recordando
tus antiguos triunfos
hipnotizado por la radiación
del arco-iris
luchas de nuevo
oprimiendo códigos plásticos
que siembran ampollas
en tus dígitos guerrilleros
en tu mano reposa
tu nueva arma de silicio
que el señor tenga piedad
de tu mente embrujada

THE MANUFACTURE OF ART


The man on the entrance with sunglasses was talking on a cell phone, he greeted us as we passed him by, his badge was next to his tie, I did not bother to read his name. We entered the building and I saw the girl, the girl that walks with her eyes. I thought I would never see her again and I was happy because she had endured. I was happy to see her inside her dream.

At the security desk one of the guards was suspicious of me, but the Native American was a believer, he smiled as he gave me a visitor badge, and walked with me through the glances & cautious smiles of office workers. The guard opened the office door and said:
“Hello”
A voice from inside said:
“Come in”
I entered and saw my friend smiling. The guard disappeared & a secretary fill his void. I did not trust her.
“Sit down” said my friend.
“I rather not” I said.
“That’s fine… tell my about your project”
“Not here”
“Do you want some coffee?”
“Sure”
“Follow me”

We walked pass the front desk and headed towards a reading room where there were two coffee makers. We filled the Styrofoam cups and exited towards the garden. We sat on the table next to a window and a window washer appeared.
“I hope you understand” I said.
“I do” he said.
“What you want to do” I asked.
“Unknown voices towards known destinations… transmissions towards the ether”
“That sounds good, but I think you need help”
“I know”
“You want me to set up a station?”
“Maybe we can do it with the net”
“That’s a good idea”
“I have to get back before they get upset”
“Relax, have fun, remember that you are not alone”
“Thank you”
“You are welcome”
I walked back to the security desk but the two fellows were not there anymore. 3 girls were now on duty and one of them looked so much like you.

ALBEDRÍO


Las llamas
Consumen el bosque
Los espejos se transforman

Días y noches de resplandores
Los pinos son antorchas
La fauna se convierte en veladoras

Es el amor silvestre
Es el cariño natural
Es una parte del mundo

Que siente calor
Que desea crear el futuro
Que desea consumir el pasado
Es el poema de nuestros espíritus

ABSOLUTELY


Rotation is only movement
Just like love is only love
And it moves lovers
To strange places

The truth is the truth
Lies are only lies
Nothing more
Usually a lot less

The world is the world
And it is yours
With a US passport
And now we can
See it spinning

Sinking to the bottom
Of the sea
The best place to be
The world
Is a wet location
For the most part

Getting your feet in the water
Is not a horrible thing
It is a matter of acceptance
Consider this
H20 is a chisel

Reason is simple
Persuasion is as natural
As life itself
It is those efforts
That create confidence

SANITY


Fear is smaller than love
On summer’s Sundays
When the western light
Takes the windows
That face the ocean
When my eyes penetrate
The beauty of your image
When our efforts
Become the only hope
Alive in our hearts
When the truth
Becomes brilliant like the sun
And dark as a night with a new moon
Compelling like the best of intentions

MEXICAN DISH


Eating tongue
Is not the same
As kissing it

The ingredients
Can hide the fact
Of the messages
Conveyed by grazing
And now converted
Into food & energy

Kissing a cow
Is not the same
As eating it

I rather kiss a fish
Before eating it
Fish are not paranormal
They swim in the sea
Waiting to become
The food of love

CAZESSÚS


I took my seat and waited
For the reading to begin
And what happened next became a show
Electricity and vocal chords
Colors and sounds
Spoken images
Visual metaphors
Images that danced
On the wall capriciously
Not everybody endured it and it reminded me
Of the time I saw Ginsberg read
And how some people got up
And left the theater
But THIS was in Spanish
And it was better
Because she reads good & she
Was more pleasant
To look and to listen to than Allen and
Her voice was the chanting of nature
The tremolo of instinct
The justification of humanness
She was the brave new planet
She was the intelligent provocatrix
She was the city that spoke

Outside there was a table
With food and
Numerous bottles of wine

I drank the wine
And observed
The dead fish inside the bowl
And it look delicious
So I grabbed a nacho ship
And dipped into it
Ate part of it
And felt the food particles
Getting stuck
In between my teeth
As I considered
The old Italian man serving
Red wine to poets & writers

Antonieta Villamil said:

It must
Be the wine
And then
She wrote:

For Juan,

To see is beyond
The dancing observation
The light on the eye
A premonition that exposes


I got in my car
And arrived at an obscure
And strange place
But the wailing of the fire engines
Alerted me of the right of way
I drove toward the city
Towards the lights
Towards downtown
And soon a parking attendant
Was trying persuade me
With a Cuban cigar
But I kept walking towards the tavern
And met my friends
They were drinking beer in green bottles
And reciting poems from memory
And when it was my turn
I tried to remember a poem
But I had an unpleasant recollection
So I created 1 poem
As I spoke

LIGHT & DARKNESS


There’s always shadows
On one hemisphere
Of the planet

As if that side of its body
Was bruised
Was hurting
Was recovering

And the other side
Pristine & beautiful
Filled with youth & exuberance

One side
Treated with medications
Incantations
Reconciliations

Transformations & modifications

The other
Making an appeal
To the restoration of darkness
The medicine of instincts
The pleasure of sleep

SUMMER WISH


There’s new birds on my tree
An international airport of
Winged creatures

All of them beautiful
All of them leaving messages
About you

I look at them
And then I look
At your motion picture
And it feels like
Summer more than ever

I have your images
On the mirrors
Of my mind
Now all I need
Is you

¡YA ESTÁ!


la espuma blanca
el suelo oscuro
contraste antropológico

instinto de una
vida transformada
existencia modificada
donde pisan los sueños

el aguador
con su porte de supervivencia
presencia de gladiador
atacador invisible
todo un alma de Dios

llenó mis 3 garrafones
y los rayos ultravioleta
golpeaban el chorro de agua
disparando luces por doquier

esa noche
mientras comentábamos
tus poemas
los poemas que modificarán
el futuro
un hermano profirió:

o sea
que desde allí...
¡ya está!
del pellejo
del cuero
de la piel
¡ya está!

SILBIDO

La velocidad de Dios
Acaricia el mundo
Y toca corazones
Transforma las cosas
Provoca música
Nuevos planetas
Evidencias de vida
Que hacen soñar
A los curiosos
Y suspirar
A los amantes

IS YOUR FATHER HOME?


The rich man knocked on the door
When I answered
I found him
Staring at the dog
On the floor

He was an idiot
He could not tell
It was dead

“Is your father home?”
“No”
“Do you know when he will be back?”
“No”
“Can you tell him I stopped by?”
“Yes”

He then left to one
Of his many business
Or perhaps to his mansion
By the beach

I placed the dog
In a black plastic bag
And buried it