Fable

the big bad wolf
was telling his buddies

"she was a 7 ft tall
red-haired Amazon!"

His Own Private Idaho

for sixty two years
the world had been unaware

that a perfect image
of the Virgin Mary

adorned his…

Elegy For Cal

the angry cabbie
demanded to know

who was going
to pay the fare

The Twin Towers

Rapunzel saved
many that day,

but, alas, not herself.

The Theory Of Relativity

they found a jawbone
in an arroyo in Juarez

the authorities
did not do DNA testing on it

and no dental records
were requested

Biography Of E. E. Cummings

cOm          I
N
       g
s&


G
Oi

                       ng
                  S

iPod

I was watching
Invasion of the Body Snatchers

when I fell
asleep

Confessional

sure she had put her head
in the oven before

but that
was just rehearsal

As I Stood Back

my love electric
as I stood back

beat roses
along her hand

her eyes betrayed
across their desert

the wind dug into
its pockets with no luck

the sun beat down
upon a drum

that’s the sound
you heard

Negative Capability

it's not mine
she said

as she
put it back

That Feeling

he grabbed whatever he could
in the name of love

the green stuff the red stuff
the brown stuff

wires sticking out
he guessed at things

he splashed about
crawled back out

stood there
in amazement

if you had really
looked into his eyes

you would have seen it
you would have felt it

you who thought
it would never come to this

Streets Of Juarez

on the streets of Juarez
death is good for death

you never know
who’ll be next

who says
there’s no democracy down there

everyone is equal
on the streets of Juarez

drugdealer, cop,
and children

no one is
guaranteed immunity

in Juarez
only death survives death

Pretty Brunette On A Nature Walk

as she walked
along the trail

rocks and pebbles
looked up at her

their ancient minds
so packed with knowledge

which did them
no good

but was always
kept at hand

in case one day
it spilled from their guts

Link via Mondo Ernesto here.

A Portrait Of J. A.
In A Convex Mirror

you don’t know me
the terrible blue lavas

claws retracted
claws at work

flashing eyes
devout sex fiend

my boulders out of control
smash envious hands

my hairless
slithery backbone

if you look into my eyes
you’ll fall inside

on the outside
it’s just me

Cumpleaños

your birthday
has come once again

and I am on the outside
looking in

those years long ago
have broken down into rocks

the sea
has washed over barrier islands

new land bridges appear
man has arrived from afar

I loved you
so much once

my long hair tangled
in an effort

to put out fires
postpone ice

and now, my hands
torn off the poem

Stalker

you do not know it
or perhaps you suspect it

I have been following
your footprints forever

the archeology
of your heart

examining the fossils
of your feelings

the comet which
almost wiped you out

has been pinpointed
through my efforts

I lie here flat
against a sand dune

you are just
on the other side

the heart beat in my chest
dispersing grains of sand

Your Chain Gang Or Mine?

don’t say a word to a soul
keep your distancia

all those men and women
in cages

I shiver thinking
of iron bars

a swarm of flies
drag fences

what would the woods be
without trees you tell me

the numbers don’t add up
life is handy

hide the chains
I’m still not convinced

Ya No Quiere Caminar

a black caterpillar
crossing the highway

la cucaracha
ya no quiere caminar

we as humans
think lowly of the hairy creature

we can not see
its grandiose plan

we think of its life
as aimless meaningless

lifting its head in the air
we call it reflex

we do not see
its minute thoughts

the lengths to which
it aspires

its million-year-old goal
just across the highway

while us, us…
our cucaracha

ya no quiere
caminar

The Po-biz Blues


Henry Gould is here.

A Poem By Jose Montalvo,
otherwise known as
"The Black Hat Poet"

MI PRIMER POEMA EN AUSTIN

7-28 del 1982
El Ostion

Last night,
at a quarter to nine
vino el vato del post office
bringing my draft card renewal,
the monkey wards and phone bills.
I wrote the checks,
including their well-earned
fifteen per cent gratuity.

El Eyewitness News
showed all
about middle east peace
in half a second flat.

Platicando con la luna,
I found out que
our father sun
was out
making a business deal
con los pinches del Exxon.
She was making nopalitos.

My next door neighbor trabajando
en su model home
nuclear reactor
while his children
were drying out the cat
en el microwave oven.

I read the Bible
according to Billy Graham
and neatly folded
old glory.

I cleaned my picture
of the last supper
and did their dishes.
And at eleven twenty seven
I fell sound asleep
with a Budweiser popsicle
in my hand
and was awake six hours later
to the music of John Wayne
y sus mariachis
serenading me.

I woke up really scared
so I went to work…
on my jalapeño garden.

A Poem By Cecilio Garcia-Camarillo


jim

como hojas de un libro
que el viento empuja
hacia un misterio azuloscuro
pasan las vidas

ya no me darán placer
las sonrisas de mi amigo
que ahora esta en un espacio
de las fibras luminosas
de su conciencia

al terminar el servicio
nos atacan las emociones confusas
del por que

por que compadre

por que no

pero…

fue mi decisión

pero…

respetala

una capa de nubes azulgrises
cobijan la montana sagrada
de los teguas

allí veo escrito
al hermano Herminio
haciéndole el amor
a una evita
en un gallinero

allí veo al sabelotodo entiendelonada
deliberando si tiene o no
el valor para cortar
la garganta de un cabrito

allí veo a pedro
cortándose el pelo
para que no lo conozca
dona sebastina cuando venga
por su caotica alma

allí veo tanto mas

doy unos pasos
y estoy en el camino

de leyendas
y yerbas medicinales

del humor tajante
que es el baile alegre
que provee la luz
mientras llega la cuenta

de las culturas
indias e hispanas
entretejidas para siempre

como amabas
las montanas y la gente

la sigo amando

los lowriders y amaneceres

los sigo viendo

los cuentos de los ancianos

los sigo oyendo

amabas tanto todo esto

todo quedo en me espíritu
que es energía eterna

repito por que

todos tenemos que morir

si pero hay que esperar
el momento

you escoji mi momento

el destino trae el momento

pues yo le gano al destino

pero tenemos
una responsabilidad moral

la moralidad es relativa
tu sabes eso

fue tu decisión

mi libertad para hacer la decision


This is a poem about the writer
Jim Sagel,Cecilio's friend. A
dialogue between two friends,one
living and one who had already
lived his life.

A Poet’s Obsession

I cover myself in words
they are hollow

there is an echo
of wooden walls

I lie like an insect in here
feeding

thinking a word belongs only
in the flesh

a sound’s caught by chance outside
I am on the beach

in a sea of words
I utter foam

my cloak
soaked

my voice
crawling

to think merely words
make us

Once I Didn’t Relish

once I didn’t relish
darkening the page

moved out and about
it just happened

what do we want
the white page for

better to let it stain
let it stand for dirty

follow the beautiful grime
if need be

still I’d rebel occasionally
crying it’s not my job

get somebody else
to do it

oh I shouted
deep into the night

but now that it has come to pass
I have accepted my fate

here, I’ll darken
this page for you