THE READING CONTINUED


Some said it was sabotage
Others believed more in
Technical difficulties

I heard helicopters
Hovering above
The palace of culture

But I could not
See the flying machines

At the entrance
Guards stood
Holding assault riffles
Like rock stars hold
Electric guitars

It’s good
To see poets
Well protected here
In this Mexican
Wild—West
The poet stood there
With a dead microphone
And a wet speaker

Even though
There was no juice
And the beer sat
In unopened kegs
And the bottles of wine
Were ready for neophytes

The poet
Raised his index finger
Towards heaven
A poetic act by itself
And electricity returned
The speaker and the mike
Were resurrected

MIDNIGHT SPIDER


I red spider
Hid inside
My red shirt

Since I was
Heading towards
The bathroom
I decided to take it
With me

I shook the shirt
Above the toilet
But it wouldn’t fall
Into the water

So I grabbed
The hair brush
And brushed it off
And it got wet

It tried to swim
But I urinated on it
I flushed it down
And away it sailed
Towards the sea

CERCA DEL MAR


Un barco de amistad
Se asoma por mi ventana
Siempre está
Frente a mis ojos

Pareciera que
Mis lentes
Son buques

Lanchas pesqueras
Con anzuelos
Para corazones humanos

Las naves marinas
Se multiplican
Como los sexos
Del tercer mundo

Los binoculares metafísicos
Son esenciales
Para detectar
Intenciones húmedas

El mar de ha convertido
En un lecho de amor
Hasta los aviones
Se cogen a las avionetas

En la tierra
Están las cuevas
De propagación
Puedo hacer poemas
Con fertilizantes

THE HUNT:
THE GOOD SISTER
A GOOD MOTHER


There was a time
When I was angry with God
Because he made me a lion
I wanted to be an eagle

I always was
Getting in trouble at school
For bullying other animals
My father would be called in
And the teacher
Would give him the reports
On my bad behavior
Since dad believed
In the commandments
Of the Holy Instincts
—Something about “love is correction”—
He would exercise those precepts
On my feline body

Back then I didn’t comprehend
My structure
And I would play rough
With my classmates
I didn’t understand
Why they were afraid of me
But I did feel bad about it
I would always stop
When they would cry in pain
Their 4 furry little legs
Would shake

Our first attempt to imitate the king
Was hunting without supervision
On prohibited grounds
My brother and I thought
It would be a good idea
To go into papa’s lair
And take his hunting secrets
Out of their hiding place
He always thought we didn’t know
Where he hid his grownup things
But we always knew

When nobody was around
Usually at night
We would hunt the streets of our jungle
It was exhilarating to watch dogs
Run for their lives
We would fire away
That raw knowledge
But we would always miss
Those canines ran fast
We were fortunate that our disobedience
Didn’t cause any fatalities
Perhaps we can still find the memories
Of those efforts
Engraved on walls
Of elementary schools

It was later on that I understood
Hunting is the art of survival
Territorial protection
Nutritious food for family members
Exercise and enjoyment
For friends and love ones
Like with anything
Hunting gets easier with practice
Since hunting is work
Sometimes it is not fun
But it’s always necessary

The first kill
Is the hardest
Because your knees shake
But as you eat more and get stronger
The shaking subsides
You also learn to kill friends
That become foes
Not out of sport
But out of necessity
When they are too big
Such as a hippopotamus
The easiest way is to chase them
And make them trip
Using their biggest asset against them
Overweight animals tend to
Brake their necks when they fall

If the hippo dies in the water
You must use extreme caution
When entering to retrieve it
Sometimes lion hunters
—Usually doctors—
Can be hiding in camouflage
Waiting with 30’06’s
For someone like you
To get in the river

SLANDER:
THE BAD SISTER


Children are
The future
Of the family

The future
Of the world

When children
Are present
There’s no need
Feed them poison

You shouldn’t try
To brake
A family

The hearts of children
Are tender

Why do you want
To spear them
With venom?

Defamation
Of ancestry
In the ears
Of the innocent
Is a serious crime

Children
Are only hurt
By such things
Needles suffering

Sorry
I can’t overlook
This crime
I have a family
To protect

WORK

Del rio
Funeral home
I think
Del Juan
Funeral homes
Sounds better

About 9 rounds
Of rapid fire
Near midnight

It was the
Inferior eco
Of a 9 mm

I know
I can
Do it faster
With a 45

MONTES SANCHEZ


He seems like
A nice guy
The type that
Is trying to do
His job

I couldn’t spot
A pistol
On him
Perhaps he
Was wearing
An ankle holster

I find them good
For disguise
But impractical
In the field

Maybe he had
An AK—47
In his beat up
VW bug

But he was closer
To my threshold
And further away
From his
Pictographic beetle

I was tempted
To ask him
To enter

Perhaps he smelled
My intentions
So we talked
On the outside

I saw
A Mexican sun
A summer of
The 7th month
Tattooed in
His eyes

SPOTLIGHT


She cries
And her tears
Are blue

The price
Of fame
Constricts
The heart

And sometimes
The throat

Electronic
Prayers are
Not the best

But sometimes
That’s the only
Help there is

SECRET SWINE FARMER


Pedro
Champion of ratones

Rodent with
An ocean view

Apostle of
Child endangerment

Demolisher
Of natural resources

Virus for
Planet warming

Dealer of misery
A life
Like this
Is not worth much

It would better
For you
To become
A magician

An execute
A disappearing act

A


I can drink coffee
And look
At you
For eternity

I can sit
At your table
And watch you
Smile hesitantly
Forever

I can see
Your body
Create the most
Amazing light
Near the sea

I can feel
Your touch like
A nuclear summer

Like an ignition
Of the soul
Detonation
Of desire

NO LLEVO
TU CELULAR
EN MIS MANOS


Me caes gordo
Carlos Slim

Tú no quieres
A los mexicanos

Y los mexicanos
No te quieren

Tus servicios
Son pésimos

¿Por qué no bajas
Tus precios?

¿Por qué no ayudas
Al pueblo
Que te convirtió
En magnate?

¿Por qué no repartes
Tus riquezas
Con los pobres
Esos que te mantienen
En la cima de
Los millones?

Algunos dicen
Que tienes el
Primer lugar
Entre los más ricos
Del mundo

Yo digo
Que eres
El número 1
En ser codo

LES ILLUMINATIONS


I like to read it
As I sit
In the bathroom

It makes
More sense
That way

A good
Exercise for
Reading out loud

I just pretend
To have a
French accent

I am sure
The cows
Won’t mind

The horses
Are definitely
In agreement
With this

REVENGE


Mosquitoes land
On my skin
As I sleep

Pestering
Mini vampires
Of the night

I kill them
In daylight

They bite
In moonlight

I crush them
With my blue
Flyswatter

When they get
Too bloated
Lethargic is
Their escape

Sometimes they
Don’t even bother
To fly away

And when they
Lay dead
Burst open
I see my blood
Around them

EVENT


From her mouth
Came fireworks

So I walked
Away from
The shrine

I pass the
New quarters
Ex—houses
Of horses

We got away
And drove south

Because it was
A holy day
Not a holiday

ALFALFA


It feels good
To have a
Funeral home
Name after myself

Is an act
Of faith
To think
Of death
Everyday

When an engine
Overheats
It dies

That is why
The Arab
Looking guy
Wants a recorder

The motocross rider
Clad in red
Is an accident

Waiting to happen

BLACK URN


Waiting with strong smiles
Attached to lips
And teeth

Because
Poetry is everything
Everything is poetry

Vehicular clusters
Are broken coffins

Shivering sunglasses
On obese faces

I write fast
Without being able to read
What I put down
On the dirt road

It doesn’t matter
If you don’t know
How to read
But it’s important
To know how to see

The black cistern
Is in the mousetrap
It is just like mine
The one stolen

It is better
Than a Trojan Horse
It’s a can of cactuses
Canister of ambushes

JORGE


That’s the name
He gave me
When I asked him

¿Cómo te llamas?

He was reluctant
For little bit
I insisted
Then he
Coughed it up

Jorge
He said

He stopped me at the side
Of the dirt road
And wanted to know
The nature of the trouble
With his uncle

He said he was willing
To shoot a gun
In the defense
Of Pedro el Raton

That might be so
But the truth
Of the matter
Is that he needs
A car more than gun

His rearview mirror
Fell out of place
As he passed me
An when he tried
To leave the scene
After our nice
Little chat
His ride wouldn’t start

I talkedTo him about
God & family

I think
He understood

I liked his courage
So the first assignment
I will give him
Is to cleanout
El ratón´s filthy yard

He might also
Be on fire watch
And put out the flames
On his side
Of the fence

Or better yet
He can help
Them move out

PEST CONTROL


There´s a mouse
In de la Cueva
Time to
Take it out
Water will work
Fire too
A melody
Will make them
Dance away

THE CARNITAS COOK


Pedro el ratón
Did not want to see
The judge
To settle matters

He got nervous
And walked away

I got some cheese
For him
But he didn’t eat
Someone suggested
Antifreeze

All Amezquita
Would say is
Call us again
When it happens

A persistent problem
Wire gets stolen at night

And during
The daytime
El ratón burns plastic
And copper

The old man
Who likes to make carnitas
Got all excited
When he saw
The patrolman
So close to his hut

From his mouth
Flowed the most
Vibrant language
He sang to me like
A wild poet

It’s okay
I’ll return the favor to him
I will write music for his words
And make a song

MILITARY CHECK POINT


The hippest
Of all
Is the one that
Sits on top
Of the humvee

Holding the
Grenade launcher

Heavy artillery
Is poetic
In this corner
Of Latin-American

I don’t know why
The talk radio host
Speaks rubbish
About this company

They always say hello
To my children
As we drive by
And then wave goodbye
In the friendliest
Of fashions

As for me
Delightful thoughts
Come and
I secretly imagine
Pressing the trigger
I also dream with

Taking the
Whole rig home
And placing it
At my homestead

This reminds me of
My childhood
How we played
Inside the
WWII bunkers
Located not far from
The military check point

It was much better
Than the videogames
We couldn’t afford

Imagination
Overpowered
Expensive monitors

I suspect
The children
Of this region
Would like it too