ANTIDOTE

The bright blue eyes
Yes that customer

He said to me
As I sat on the chair:

“This is the most sensible thing
I have ever seen”

I could only smile
Then he went on:

“I used to do this type of work
When I was little”

He was the nicest guy
And all of the sudden
I did not feel down anymore
Since I was
Written up

WHEN A BORDER INSPECTOR
WALKS AWAY HIDING HIS NAME
TAX PAYER DOLLARS @ WORK


Next time you say
"Hijo de puta"
Said it out loud
And said it to my face

It would help
If you get rid
Of your
Idiotic accent

The guy with the
Stop sign on his hand
Asked a sensible question
A cool cat
A levelheaded agent

But there’s no doubt
That you
Are an
Insignificant
Decrepit
Bastard

How much they pay you
To insult the mothers
Of border crossers?
You are
An imbecile

I don’t have
Your name
But I have
Your picture
How can I forget
Your nauseating face?
A Tijuana dog
Looks better than you

INSPECTOR VALENZUELA
OR
THE HIGHWAY PATROL
VS
THE BORDER PATROL


She said it was
My luck day
Another lucky day?

But first I want to know
If it is
Valen… as in me vale?
Zuela…. as in suela

&

Why does inspector Vitela
Rhymes
With inspector Valenzuela

I can tell you that
The highway patrolmen
Are not highwaymen

So far they are
The good guys
In this border
Motion picture

Valenzuela
You are the one
Who pronounced
The word "inspire"

Inspiration
Are you invoking
Perspiration?

Maybe next time
You can take off
Your sunglasses

I would like
To see
The sun
In your eyes

OUT FOR A WALK


I walked far away and I could see
To blue ocean to my left
Met all kinds of people and some
Where very nice and beautiful and knew
How to make love but did not know how
To be friendly and kind and gentle
So I kept walking and I would sing
A song once in awhile and the people
Would like that and they would
Give me something to drink

And then I fell in love with a girl
That had fire for hair and she knew
How to fire a rifle and how to
Keep my attention fixed on
Her youthful semblance
I would play guitar for her
And 1 day she was crying and told me
She was leaving me and I asked her why
And she said because she was going to miss me

Then I landed on a house the fed robots
And the kids there liked me very much
So much that when I told them that I
Might need to go back to the motherland
They began to cry but not like
The girl of the hair of fire
They cried in silence without tears
Their faces would turn otherworldly
But there was nothing ugly about that
Transformation that touched my eyes

And 1 of them wanted me to meet this girl
And he would beg me to ride motorcycles
And I would tell him I didn’t own a motorbike
And he would say “that’s okay I have 2”
And we went to the forest and rode them bikes
And he told me he liked guns
And then I crashed on a pine tree
But nothing happened to me or the machine



And then I finally met the girl
The was nothing out of the ordinary about her
Except that she looked like someone
I might of grownup with or gone to church with
And she made me feel at home with her presence
So we began to know each other in a very different way

And 1 night we got inside a silver dollar
And there was music there
It was Bob Marley telling a woman not to cry
And I told her that Bob was right (just in case she would start crying)
But she was unable to cry anyway

Because she would only cry for k9’s
And turtles and lizards and cats
And little white mice and elephants
And little fish of all colors
That swam sadly inside a fish tank
But we ended up in my bed anyway
Because she seemed like a nice girl

She would do breakfast in bed
And also she would scratch my back
And she was the best at what she did
And I left 2000 miles south
And she followed me and we lived
Near the beach and she seemed so happy
When everything was so crazy
But she was genuinely happy
So before we both went insane
She in a happy kind of way and I
In a lack of religion sort of way
We decided to move

So we headed back north once again
And I met witches and dogs that
Hang themselves trying to jump the fence
While they were still on a leach
And the surviving big dogs
Would kill the surviving tiny dogs
And law suits would ensue so
We got the hell out of there
Before there was more damage done

Then I started working for this guy
Who was a war veteran and he also was
The manager of a factory that produces
Devices than can turn matter into paper
And that was kind of a cool job but the
Supervisor was intimidating but very fair
And the owner likes to visit the factory
In his private helicopter

Then I decided it was time to get
Away from that employer because
They were better at making beer than paper anyway
And I was not tasting any of the beer but
They did shared their profits
And I thank the veteran for being tough and fair
Shook his hand and walked away

Then I started playing with words
And I liked that very much
So I got employment turning words
Into symbols that meant something different
But this is essentially the same thing

RESONANCIA

El canto
De las sirenas
Es un aullido cifrado
Dice ¡wow!
¡Que chingón!
Porque la muerte
Está cerca

Y anda bailando

TRANSICIÓN

Entre la puerta
Y el guardafango
Hay una línea oscura
Allí se escondió la araña

FRANK GATES COMPANIES INC.

Do you leave the gates
Open or closed?
You should know
Gates are meant
To be open
Because they can’t be closed
All of the time
Only part of the time

And then it changes
It opens and then
It closes and then
It opens again

So tell me….
What is it going to be?
Open?
Or
Closed?

Oh Frank I wonder
If we can be friends
I wonder if you know
How to dance

Frank… Frankie… that’s it
Frankie goes to Hollywood
Is that you?

I saw a picture
Of a man or a woman
I could not tell
Climbing a mountain top
But it seemed to me
The climber was falling

With the red helmet
And the red jacket
And that red hand
Grasping desperately
To dear life

Red like blood
Blood of all those
Workingmen and workingwomen
So much blood
And all of the sudden
The higher ground became so
Very slippery

All that life spilled on
Operating rooms
And job sites
All that nutritional blood
That feeds vampires like you

You who die easy
With silver pens
And silver poems
With silver metaphors
And silver wings
With silver prayers
With those silver chalices

We have a date tomorrow
And you say:
Higher savings
Higher service
Higher ground

And I say:
You are freefalling
Form that summit
You built from
The ground up
With broken dreams
Shattered lives
And the sufferings
Of organic souls

TJ HAIKU

Tú sabes
Cómo corre
El agua

WORK DAY

I consider cornstarch
White & powdery
Next to me
A bulgur man
Writes on
Paper made
Of flowers

CAR WASH

Such a nice car
Always running
At high temperatures
When I drove it
It was like
Sitting in the sun
It burned a lot
Of bad people
Volatile little convertible
And it got soiled
By dirty hands
And the best way
To clean it
Is with
Maple syrup grade B
Cayenne pepper
And water
Clean refreshing water

2 OLD LADIES & 1 OLD—TIMER

Gluten free crackers
Are vulnerable
To matzaball sauce

But the
Veteran of life
Erased the threat
With 1 grit

He was able
To open 2 cars
1 was blue
The other 1
Was white

The little nice
Old lady
Told me where
I can find
Access to gold
Is well hidden
On the shelves
And it’s invisible

KAMUT

This ancient grain
Was discovered
In Pharaoh’s tomb
And it’s alive
Germinating in the
Corridors of commerce
It just takes
1 cup
In a jar
And the proteins
And vitamins
Will multiply
Like they do
In Egypt

SALT FACE

It was a bathhouse
With a lack of protein
A farm of people
Biting into bottles
Healthy & naturally delicious
It was the vanilla
Of the world
Pollen of souls
With pillows of grain

MARRIAGE

To my sister and brother
Luisa & Chad

Marriage changes all things
Forever
Godly alliance
In flesh & blood
Supernatural strength
Of families that
Grow in the
Tree of existence
Unerasable miracle
That transforms
The souls of many
That makes 2 nations
Become 1
An invincible 1
Because love
Affects all things
In the universe
And even the angels
Are struck with awe
Because they know
They can’t taste
The flavors of matrimony
No matter what you do
You can’t ever
Destroy marriage

You can only alter it
It would be
Like trying to erase the sun
Like trying to
Obliterate the
Waters of
The 7 seas
Marriage conquers
Many wars
The obstacles in marriage
Are pieces of food
Along the way
That make you healthy
That make you stronger

AMERICAN EXPRESS

I always thought
You were a pistol
You know
The never leave
Home without it
Propaganda slogan
I believed it
But it turns out
That your ammo
Is cash
Cartridges of usury
It’s okay
I guess
But it be nice
If you forgave
The debt of
Hard working people
We use to be friends
But now we are
Comical adversaries
What a green circus
And you want
Green money
And I will not
Give you
My green blood
Go ahead
Try to keep fishing
And I will
Continue hunting
You see
I have joined
The ranks of

The working poor
Never in my life
Have I work so hard
For so little money
If you want to
Cast you net
Make sure
You have a strong 1
Because I have
Scissors & knives
And I know
How to use them

A GAME?

Who would think
The store
Would become
A game board
And that
The nights & rooks
Would be killed
By pawns
The queen has
Grown fins
And remains smiling
The bishops
Cry and pray
The king has become
A mate

DISCOVERIES

I found Ginger
Hiding behind
A new—man
And she said
To me
I am you
And I took her
And helped her
Back to her place
Then I found
A delicate Chinese cup
Hiding behind Pamela
She has pretty colors
Blue & green
And I also helped her
Back to her place
She said something to me
But a couldn’t understand her
But I suspect
It was some type
Of tanka or maybe
Even a haiku
And behind
The blue diamonds
I found this Beautiful
Cinnamon—like Italian
Her name
Matilde Vicenzi
She was so pretty
I didn’t want
To let her go

EL PROFETA

El tiempo
No se detiene
Mi querido abuelo
Sí lo podía detener
Y lo almacenaba
Dentro de una botella

Nos decía
Con una sonrisa
Que era agua bendita

Y derramaba
Un poco del contenido
A través del barandal
De su balcón
Para los perros
Que se congregaban abajo
Refugiándose de los
Rayos ultravioleta

Y mi hermano
Y yo
Entonábamos carcajadas
Nos comunicábamos
Con sonrisas
Sin dientes
Como la de él

Nuestros dientes
De leche
Siempre fueron
Dispositivos
De felicidad
Números escritos
Con el puño y letra
De Dios

Sí
Mi abuelo
Sabía detener
El tiempo

SYMBOL

An open door
Might not be
A gesture
That welcomes
It could be the
Mouth of a sepulcher
A feast
Of indigestion

INSPECTOR BLANCHARD
HE SAID HE WAS THE SUPERVISOR

Carta Blanca
Is a Mexican beer
That goes best
With cigarettes

I am sorry
If I flicked
My ashes on you
I didn’t mean
To do it

It’s not that
I wasn’t thinking
It’s just that
I hardly ever
Have Carta Blancas

You were standing there
Under the HOT sun
Looking at all
That traffic
But that’s how
The border is

Maybe you should
Have a cold one

Come on man
Take it as compliment
Good writers
Add ashes
To their beverages
For courage

I will think of you
Real hard
I promise
Next time I
Have a cold drink