Taco Triptych

1. Crime Couplets

Rain hit La Llorona's head
like a ball-peen hammer.

Stars receded
from a hairline.

Love never within earshot.

Lightning outlining
the creek.

It was in the middle of the week.
An embryo squirmed in La Llorona's womb.

2. Barrio Courtship

The rooster baby
bailed on us,

and " my girlfriend's thighs
remain oblong and lax",

said the bearded boy
whose use of picket fences

flagged down the police,
the cherry siren

blinking blue,
the cock crow

of the boy
impressed not just his girl

but her tattooed friends
askew.

3. Señorita Nopales

As soon as the word nopales
came out of her mouth,

the espinas were too much,
the world spun

out of control
hurtling the Mayans

into outer space.
She left the cocina in a hurry

with Mexicans who claimed to be
Spanish invaders.