Henry’s Elegy For The Frankenstein Monster’s Chicano Kid

So many things have happened
since you left us Max,
they’ve discovered rocks on Mars, imagine that,

and the stars on Old Glory
have been replaced with dollar signs,
welfare, social security, school lunch programs,

veteran's benefits,human caring, all have been abolished
by the god-fearing Republican government---
God himself has become a rich old Rumsfeld.

And, Max, I hate to tell your this,
but Chicano literature has passed on, too,
perhaps you saw its cold ghost

slide by you and keep on going,
brown words no longer recognizable,
brown voices silenced

and only this stupid poem tries to carry on,
fighting a losing battle, enemies all around,
chasing the Frankenstein monster of words

into the castle, burning it to the ground,
white villagers dance around the only thing left standing---
the red-hot bolt in my neck.