…more from the saga of Gary Camacho…

Fanny The Co-Worker

Fanny was born and raised in McAllen,
and in Reynosa, where her grandparents lived,

well, not her grandparents, just her grandmother,
her mother too had been abandoned by her “man”,

what the hell is wrong with these women?
They can’t keep a man,

or can keep him long enough
to get pregnant, or should we ask

what kind of men are these Mexican lizards
which crawl back into the skull

of the rock and the rubbish,
cool their tongues and in the Rio Bravo,

and then look for more women impregnate.
Fanny somehow ended up in central Texas,

working at a manufacturing plant
making parts for a subcontractor of Boeing,

Raytheon, & other defense department businesses.
Fanny was a worthless worker,

no doubt exhibiting the work ethic of the Valley,
no manners, no regard for housekeeping,

angry if she thought she was being treated unfairly,
but never worried about the rights of others,

always asking why Mexicans weren’t allowed
to cross the border as they wished.

Her friends tolerated her,
always gave her the benefit of the doubt,

but some of them
knew exactly who she was,

and teasingly gave her enough rope
to hang herself.

2.

“It sticks a pin in my bubble,
The name for this name is trouble.”

Larry would look at Fanny differently,
with more compassion,

not with a dollar’s worth of life,
but with poet’s life---

which has not picked up after itself so well,
which has gone down many wrong roads,

which values deeds of course,
yet relies so much on words.

He tells Gary on the telephone,
ease up a little, Gary,

give yourself some time
to get used to the culture,

but Gary could be a lost cause
thinks Larry as he hangs up,

and prepares to teach a class
on the forgotten poetry of Juan Bruce-Novoa.