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