PASS



I passed cars & trucks
Soldiers & their guns

I passed dreams & fears
I passed stares and glares

Numbers & letters
I passed them fast

A past life
Inside my old car

I passed free love
I passed business deals
That extended into tomorrow

I passed whatever I wanted to pass
Thinking it would get me
Closer to you

dogs & goats


as we stood outside
thinking poetry
and watching how
the wind picked up
the dust from the ground

the dogs attacked a goat
a goat who strayed from the pack
a goat that entered
through the open gate

they're going to kill it
I told my friend
and she looked concerned
and walk towards them
she went out the gate
and I heard screams

STANDING


The melodies
Are soothing my ears

The voice element
Echoes in the chambers
Of my soul

We like standing here
In timeless pondering

The messages
Filled with centuries
March towards
The encounter of love

Eyes wide open
With the morning’s surprise

The exposure of teeth
Conveys ferocious friendship

God!
How I miss
Tasting your blood

BLOCKED


The large Tahoe
Was blocking my driveway

Such a gas guzzler
Impeding the exit
Of us

I walked outside
And considered that machine
That automobile

I even asked
The young couple
A pair students
If they knew who
The owner is

The guy said
I don’t know
The girl said
You should used
Some pipes
And get it out there
We both smiled

I walk back inside
And open the faucet
Waiting for hot water
To come out
Looking at liquid soap
And used sponges

When the hot water steam
Began to fill the kitchen
The SUV drove away

descanso


es una senda abrupta
una explosión en la vereda
un camino accidentado

cuando la anciana cayó
el piso se hizo rompecabezas
estalló en mil pedazos

hasta allí
puso dios el límite
donde se parte la arena
donde brinca el agua

donde el tiempo
tiene brazos y pies
y los espejos respiran
aman y sienten

GIANT


Seafood is good for the soul
I heard the voice say

Then another voice:
La vida es una apuesta pendiente

She put her hand on her neck
As if she was strangling herself

Or maybe just
Covering a wound

Looking up & down
Towards the sky
Ands towards the ground

And I did the same
But did not noticed
Anything out of the ordinary

The British mothers
Push their babies strollers
A giant walks by

With her two daughters
She’s pleasant to the eye
But she’s giant

STOREFRONT


I grabbed the movie and walk out the door
I thought it was late
And I drove in the night

And it was dangerous because the windows
Where wet with water that refused to disappeared

And I drove slow
Like when you want to make a good impression

I drove slow
Like when you feel tender & romantic
And it’s something more than sex

I drove slow
Because it was simply better to remain alive

I drove slow
Because sometimes you can’t trust your eyes

I drove slow
Like when you want to love the world
And save up some gasoline

I drove slow
Thinking it was not that slow as I took the corner

I drove slow
Remembering the time I wrecked on ice

I drove slow
And parked inside a stripped mall

I walked away form the car noticing the moisture
That must be corroding the lungs of America
And inside I gave money to the clerk
I gave him a green bill
And he gave me 2 blue bills and some coins back

I drove slow
Because I knew it was more dangerous than ever

I drove slow
Because I wanted to buy that soft drink

I drove slow
Because on the other side of the can soda
I found an Old No 7

I drove slow
For you
Because you got out of you car
And looked at me puzzled
In a business suit
And blue nylons
Your gray automobile
Parked next to mine

THE RESPECT OF BEAUTY


I see your photograph
And think of the poems

Those poems that lay
Sleeping in your notebook
In your mind

On in the invention
Of your secrets

I think of the challenge
Those words could ignite
In our fast-forward lives

I lay down
I lay low

Enough of steeping on stones

I go down and look
At your picture
One more time
Before starting
The dream machine

PANTS & SKIRTS


Pants & skirts
Sometimes go together
Like when it is winter
Up north

Pants & skirts
Sometimes give birth
To comments
Like the remarks
From New York

Pants & skirts
Untwined the memory
Making it travel

20 years to the past
20 years to the future
20 melodies to the heart

Pants & skirts
Protection from the wind
And the stations
From the mind

OUTSIDE


The woman
In a brand new minivan
Stopped in front of my house
Got out her car
And began cleaning the hood
With a cloth

A man
With dark sun glasses
In a beat up sedan
Stopped a cross the street
And began
Checking her out

I looked at
Both of them
Through the blinds
In my window

The woman
Who looks like a housewife
Looked in my direction
Got in her car
Put her hair in a pony tail
And drove off

I walked away from my window
Towards my table
On wrote this poem

TORCH



Akademics
Also do exercise

The guy
With the cowboy hat
And the red jacket

Likes asking:
What time is it?

Perhaps he should meet
The akademic sprinter

The backhoe
Is getting rid of
The flagstone

And there’s more
Barefoot walkers

HOT PURSUIT


Green car with a latter
On the roof
Made a tight turn
And makes it alright

And everybody
Feels just alright

I noticed
A black Mercedes
On the rearview mirror

I don’t like it
Since is not a sedan
But a SUV

I put the pedal to the metal
And the Mercedes kept up
Almost bumper to bumper

There were 2 pretty girls
Following us
And I said to my boy:

Son
I don’t know if we
Should be concerned
Or flattered

CHRONOMETER


The woman’s hand
Becomes a claw
And the folks say

Run!
Run!
Run!

But the sand
Is firm
And the tide is low

And walking
Is better
Than ever before

Endless inspiration
Inside the lungs

HAPPENSTANCE


Certainty is as natural
As breathing

I didn’t see
A single ship
On the water

But there were
2 airplanes
On the sky

I encountered
My friend & his lovely wife
On the sand

We greeted each other
And talked about
Birthdays & exercise

As the Italian girl
Walked by
And said hello

LEAD


The bird is dying
The woman is jogging
And the black lab
Has a tight rope on its neck
Being led by a man with a kind face

Eyes are crying
Life is passing
Girls are walking

Fishermen are fishing
And the algae snaps
As I step on it

The man with the pole
Is in a trance
Examines the weights

LOOP



The girl in black
Sprints on the sand
He hair like wings
Lifted by the ocean’s wind

She has an atomic smile
As she says:
Buenos días
I answered:
Buenos días
And I’m almost tempted
To tell her to raise her arms

A middle age woman
Runs in circles
Till exhaustion

She looks like a professor
Or some sort of scholar in distress

She stops running and places
Her right hand on her heart
Before finally collapsing
On the sand

The autochthonous woman
Swims in the waves
Clad in a black swimming suit

Despite the cold water
There’s no confusion
There is no cursing
It seems like she will do fine

The girl sitting
On the rock
Watching the spectacle
Reminds me of you

And the girl
Jogging in pink shorts
Has your profile

GRIEF


The man
In the red sweater
Is fading on the sand

The folder
On his hands
Weighs a terrible
Burden on him

He walks
Barely alive
Barely conscious

Ephemeral like an
Unsuspected visit
Disintegrating like
The dead birds on the sand

PLAYGROUND SWING


How fragile is life
When foam comes out
With happiness

When foams comes out
Through the mouth
Of extradited secrets

Decorating the bridges
And tall buildings
Of the cities in your mind

A rope
Is only an instrument
Of distance

A knot
Is what happens
With careless breathing

A bridge can serve
As a roof
A bridge is
A pendulum

8X8


The skiff lingers
Making circles on the water
And the Portuguese lighthouse radiates

The boat retreats
As the 8x8 foreign man
Petting the 2 canines
Said to me:

Good morning!

A woman
Is confused
With the salt water
Her denim jeans
Have pockets full of sand
She’s on the shore
She’s at the mercy of the cold water

She’s wet
She screams
She curses
She cries
In English

I walk
I walk away
I walk northbound
To the line on the face
Of the earth

Tight lips
She tries to smile
But she can’t

ADOQUÍN


The water diving dog
The beach diving mutt
Returns with a smile on its face

Water dripping from the stick
Lodged on its fangs

As the man with the green jacket
Walked sternly with the money bag
On his right hand

The grandmother
Strolling on the boardwalk
Felt face first on the flagstone

When I approached her
And asked if she was okay
She raised her arms towards me

I reached for her forearms
And picked her up
And she looked at me and said thank you

This time
There was no need
For an ambulance