CLEANING


“He used to live
And played guitar
In a shed
10 years playing the same songs”

Maybe in the same place

I remembered his statement
As I moved
Dusty boxes

Looked at unopened
Bank statements

Studied the twisted wires
Of old cell phones

“6 months later
He was a millionaire”

I remembered his words
As I threw the bank correspondence
Into the garbage

He didn’t say
He blew his brains out
With a shotgun
But both of us knew it

I thought of that
When I saw my old canteen
On the dusty floor

I put the waste
In the green garbage can
Then I went inside
To eat some bread

IT’S JUST LIFE


Life is the danger of music
The headache of dissonant chords
The unnoticed torture of the eye

The rapid transaction of your response
The contemplation of your demise
The pondering of your laughter
The echo of my smile

My teeth sinking on the food between my lips

Life is the pursuit of a mirage
The deciphering of need
The seduction of necessity

Life is
Your nervous presence on my counter
Your mischievous grin
Your hand reaching for a business card

You walking out the door
Me looking at your back

Life is being nice to your enemies before they die
Shaking hands
Shaking extremities at the same time

Sobbing when they cross the Rubicon
Taking a deep breath and marching onward

Life is being homeless and in darkness
Fed and in opulence
Talking and being kind to complete strangers

While reading their thoughts and intentions
While pretending not to notice
They are far-far-far away

PERSECUTOR


I am a persecutor
A persecutor in stride
fast forwarding
Your disappearing ambushes

I am a persecutor
Your wrath
I can convert
In energy

I am persecutor
Of nightmares
Of your dreams
And wishes

I am persecutor
Of whatever I want to persecute
I like precutting nothing at all
That’s what I like best!

I am persecutor
Of stories
Of love poems
Of life
Of happiness

I am persecutor of this
I am a persecutor of that
I am persecutor of you
Even if you think
You don’t exist

cáncer

cáncer
me caes de a madres

cáncer
te tengo identificado
en el cuerpo humano
igual en los senos
que en la próstata
en los pulmones
que en la garganta
y en la lengua
y en los labios

cáncer
cangrejo glotón
cómete ésta
me refiero a la muerte cáncer
cómetela

cáncer
húndete en la arena
que te lleve el mar
húndete junto al drenaje y el llanto

cáncer
codiciosa tenaza
rómpete contra
las rocas de la playa

y cáncer
del azar deseo salado
de marte visita clandestina
de penas arma que multiplica

cáncer
vete mucho a la chingada
vete muy lejos allá
donde no hagas daño

cáncer
bicho raro
travieso malvado
déjanos en paz

y cáncer
también sé
pedir por las buenas
pero no lo haré

cáncer
vete o te envenenaré
veneno en mis tejidos
cáncer

TASTE


The light of your beauty
Shines like
A million suns

Your eyes
Contain unrestrained water
Oceans of desire
Glance of medicine

Stillness of the morning
Snow melting

Your dancing fingers
On my skin

My heart a time bomb
Your love tastes
Like an olive tree

NATURE… MACHINE… MAN


He said
It is time to give her a bath
Don’t you think?

And I told him:
This month is
An uphill month

What do you mean?
He asked

I mean
Do you give credit?

He laughed
And I laughed
I walked toward
The sand

The water
Reminded me
Of my last trip
And deep inside
I felt a little pride

I walked
And noticed
I was out of shape
But not out of desire

I wanted more than ever
To live
To walk
To love
To breathe

The diesel fumes
Were fanned
By the Pacific

There were craters
On the sand
And otherworldly fellows
Operated what looked
Like transformers

No glitter
Since the sun
Illuminated the dullness
Of the machines

THE BLESSING OF THE WATERS


The spirit of intelligence
Sings the mystic

And I feel like
Saying: amen
Or something of the sort

The spirit of intelligence
Moves upon the waters

It also lives
In the fire
On the stillness
Of the candles

I can drink this water
It doesn’t burn you
Like firewater does
When it travels
Through you esophagus

It gives you health
To slay dragons
It hydrates you
With the spirit of intelligence

ANSWERS


The metal snake moved
Slowly and then fast
On a sunny winter afternoon

We talked about dreams
As we contemplated
Airplanes painting the sky

The mental snake
Cut into pieces
On the floor
Inside the old shed

On the other side
There was more answers
Than questions

PRUDENCE


The best gift
Is not knowing the future

That way
You can hit
Everything with prudence
When suffering
Becomes a sport

You can fulfill
Your part as
A converter of realities

Taking pride
In your work
Even though it hurts
Even though it’s broken

SHORTS & SANDALS


I woke up
And it felt like summer
Except my throat was closing
Like when I kissed
The plant that looked
Like a lady

The wind
And the sun
Played together
Like bewitched mice

I was told to close the window
Because the dust
Could puncture
Your lungs

I pushed to button
And watched the glass
Rise with the scenery

The water
Was a mirror once again
And even though
I was hungry
I was also happy

I MEANT GOOD


What you told me was true
You were not joking
Even though you laughed a lot
Forgive me for not believing

I meant good
I always meant good

When we would listen
To the band play
When we ate dinner
As you taught me
Of the likings
Of the people

I meant good

When you would ask me
To choose the seat
To enter a room
The check for
Anything unusual

I meant good

When you would talk
About magic
Trying to make me believe
In what you believe
So adamantly

I meant good

When you refuse
To sell the Italian pistol
When I felt
Like I was loosing
My patience

I meant good

When you were
Able to get into
Other people’s minds
In other places too

I meant good…

When I find out you died
I thought of you
And how you meant good

VISIT


I called my friend’s name
Once or twice
He came out the front door
Opened the metal gate and said:
Come in

I walked in and sat at the table
We talked about
Cars and trucks and
Better times

He offered me coffee
And I accepted
He put his son
In charge of the coffee maker

His son is good kid
I wanted to teach him
How to play guitar
But he suffers from arthritis
On his fingers

We talk some more
About the 90’s
How things are not the same
They are never the same

I remembered the time
When the strange truck parked outside
My friend walked to his room
And came back with a revolver on his hand
Sat at table and continued the conversation
Keeping a focused eye on the window

We talked about radios
And he made
And international call
On his cell phone

The voice at the other end
Sounded sleepy
You woke him up
I said
No I did not
He said
That’s the way he talks
He added

You should do it!
The voice on the phone said
This is a good opportunity

CRUISING


For D.A.


I let the ambulance go first
Then I followed

Near the ocean I saw my friend
Holding hands with a guy
She looked in love

I kept driving
We were listening to norteño music
And once in awhile
We would sing together
And laugh a little

Stopped at the tire shop
And the poor lad
Wanted to sell me everything
As if we were still living in the 90’s
I said no thanks
And drove away

I thought to myself:
Even if it was like before
I would have walked away anyway

It was more important
To have lunch

My son ordered a hot dog
I ordered a slice of pizza

We shared a soda
I let him pick the soft drink
And he chose a coke

I ate my cheese and pepperoni
With mushrooms and black olives

He ate his mustard and ketchup
With relish and white bread

He managed to get
The condiments
On his clothes

I handed him some napkins
And as he wiped the mustard
Off his clothes
Someone that looks like you
Walked by us

TRUCHA CON EL CABLE HOMIE



Trucha con el cable homie
The voice said in the dark
The stench of burnt plastic
Traveling through
His rotten teeth

Trucha con el cable homie
The voice lingering
In the night
Incense of theft

Trucha con el cable homie
And to think he better
Get trucha with his ass
Before it get full of lead
Or something else

Trucha con el cable homie
Because the dogs will bark
When the horses arrive
And all of them
Will end up tied up

Trucha con el cable homie
Sunday morning is a special time
Sunday morning is my favorite time
Sunday morning near the ocean
Because is better than last night
Listening to the speaking fish
Repeating the words:
Trucha con el cable homie

REMOTE CONTROL


A remote control of life
A dusty control with
The sound of music
With the appearance modernity
Malnutrition of circumstance

A control to walk slowly
A control to walk faster
Control of the future
Control of the past

A remote dream
Remotely surviving
Remotely controlling desires
A remote appeal from across the oceans
Walking on water like God

THE SOUND OF COLD


It was so cold that I decided not to make coffee
And went back to bed after urinating on the toilet

First listening
Then watching
The ripples on the water
Feeling like Basho
In the morning:

Watching the toilet
Urine lands inside of it
The sound of the morning cold

Running back to bed
Diving under the covers
Ah the covers!

Good covers are essential
Good cover are good
Good covers are medicinal
Good covers are psychological
Good covers are wonderful

Writing love poems
Inside the sleeping bag
Making my own tepee
Imagining you are with me
Your nose rubbing against my nose
Your body rubbing against my body
Making this winter a better place

And then sleeping till I can not breathe
Waking up and stretching
And thinking:

Is this how my baby does yoga?

I hear my bones crack
My sinuses are cleared up
I can breathe again
So I sleep some more

And just before falling asleep
I remember the chiropractor
Who was scared shitless
As he tried to scared me
With a fake gun
And I wondered if he knew
I had a loaded 45

And he cracked my bones
But he broke a sweat
And he told me:
When your bones are aligned
You’ll breathe better

Fast-forward many years into future
And I am here
On my bed
And since it is cold
And it is almost Christmas Eve
I sleep some more

LIKE WHEN YOU ARE DREAMING

To Penélope Cruz.


Friendship is knowing what to do
Like when you are dreaming
With Penelope Cruz
And she’s asking you for money
At a liquor store
Because you guys were partying
And went across the street
To buy more drinks

And you know
You don’t have any money
And you say to her

“Penelope, I was going to ask you the same thing!”

But she just looks at you strangely
And pretends not to notice
What you have just said
And goes on as if nothing has happened
And that’s exactly what happened: nothing

That’s why
She buys a pack of cigarettes
And you guys continue partying

First at the house
That looks something like the
House you used to live in

Then you walk
Bar hopping
Together in the city
Through the night
And even though this is not your favorite thing to do
Because you rather be at home reading or writing
And perhaps not even her favorite thing to do
Since she probably rather be making movies
Or sleeping 11 hours a day

You continue together
Smiling at strange people
And walking into strange places
And both of you know
That this sort of thing
Is better done like this
Than alone

The problem with dreams is
How to resolve complicated situations
Without ruining the dream
For example the dream with Penelope Cruz
Went fairly good
It was to an extent
Very smooth
But when you dream

That you are arriving at your friends pad
And you are sleeping on his couch
But you found Robin Williams
Sitting where you sleep
You have a dilemma

How to continue with your mission
Which is to sleep
Without disturbing your friend’s guest
Without ruining your dream

So you go out with your friend
And his friends (Robin Williams) of who you are a fan
And you go with them
To have dinner at your host’s restaurant
And there’s a fight
But this time there’s no bullets
Flying across the tables
But food
Food all over the place
On the patrons faces
On the floor
On the chairs
On the windows
On the patron’s clothing

And you walk away from
That wasteful place
And you noticed that this
Was also a successful dream
Because you friend is not upset with you
Robin Williams thinks your pleasant fellow to be around
And you know you are going back
To waiting and comfortable sofa

THE CONTINUATIONS OF SITUATIONS



History gone astray
Fury over continuation of situations

The Taramhauras keep dragging their feet
Confounding the local intellectuals
And casting their spells on the French

They make them
Lose their way
With nature
On nature

That is the cost of the natural
The fee of organics
The high payment
For services rendered

The economy of wastefulness
Accumulation of power through dissipation

The Chiefs burning cows
Throwing gold away
Losing items
And gaining prestige

World class American Chiefs
With their arrows
And their portions of reason

The continuations of situations
Are born at random
And not at random
It produces
Esthetical effects
And political sensations

International situations
A labyrinth were access
Is denied to the automobile

They have taken down
The traffic signs
So those that follow
Will get lost
Where the streets have no name

The failure of obsolete cities
The cities of sleep
The cities of dreams

But we live on islands of experience
With remote controls of love
Because the organization of passion
Is power

GARDENS


The scenario
Is a garden in the valley
That’s what
The Muslims call it

English gardens
Are preserved like
Nature intended them to be

But they are kept
Clean and trim

The grammar of noise
In the garden

The whisper of the world
Appears just before
Falling asleep

MAKING TIME


I am not like that
Said the security guard
Like what? I thought to myself
The guard continued

I always have behaved myself
You can’t work that hard
Just to waste it all away
He looked at me
Speaking and trying to make sure
I would understand his reasons
Hoping that I would say something
I could tell he wanted me to say something
And I did not know what to say
But when it sounded like he was choking
I said: I understand
He relaxed a little and continued with his monologue

And I thought to myself
How much I wanted to be out of there
How much I wanted to tell him: enough!
Don’t give me explanations
I am not asking you to do this
You don’t have to do anything
You don’t want to do

But then I thought on how
I was there and did not wanted
To be there but it was the best
For the moment

I asked if he had
A list of phone numbers
For the different departments?

He looked at me and said
I am usually not assigned here
Then he grabbed a piece of paper
And scrolled down on it
Using his index finger