The Cardenas Brothers

God must know

that when the Cardenas brothers

are no more,

that he will pay dearly

for such an atrocity,

because who will poke fun

of the weaknesses

of relatives,

their friends, their acquaintances,

who will poke fun

of the frail,

the infirm, the invalids

it is with great humor

(mean humor, of course)

that they lived

their lives to the max

but they sure

had their

hearts of gold—

even if it was just fool’s gold

“God brought it on himself!”

the Cardenas brothers will say,

wherever the hell

they may be

The Blue Shorts

In your blue shorts
you wrap mice

upstairs
while your twin sister

sails panties
across the room like frisbees

outside
the parking lot

feels for your thighs
puts its

asphalt hands
on your shorts

its black hands
moist with fog

while I sit
in the company van

and remove
a sinful nickel

from the
steering wheel

the mice struggle
but will be delivered

one eye
one tail neatly packed

while your scaredy-cat God
runs up your blue shorts

The Rattle

The stone
which rattles in my heart

for her
and for her kind

hits on my face
by whatever

good or evil
not of my creation

yet tastes so sweet
to my senses

my heart's pounding
can not still the stone

and with this
I must live forever

Mr. & Miss Desire

As the days draw near
when I shall hold you in my arms

against your will
and against my own wishes

you will cuddle against me excitedly
(there's that word again)

the confused thoughts
that go through your mind

have their own desires
and fulfill them

not taking you or me
into account at all

Carmen

She was bad to the bone
in her frying pan barrio pants

her asphalt abuela
cancelled her chancla classes

the new baby
made of toothpaste tacos

lunes lunes was not
just monday monday

on disco boulevard
or guadalupe lupe

a cumbia dog
arrived from paradise

everyone knew
she was bad to the bone

the circus men
and the construction workers

climbed roofs
for 100 per cent proof

the house
where Carmen lived

spewing steam
into each dream

and those eyes of hers
we all talked about

so long ago
when love would crystallize

she was bad to the bone in her
zarzamora blue jean zippered shorts

and the westside cotton candy music
of her carnaval

To Everything There Is A Season

They were a hard-nosed people
who would keep us down

at all cost
there in the fields

and valleys
where we harvested

every living thing
for them

we toiled
day and night

in the cold
and in the searing heat

year after year
and when we became like them

they did not like it
and rebelled against us

thinking it was their right
though they had long

denied those very rights to us
who now must beat them

back down
they were a hard-nosed people

The Mexican Guitar

The Mexican guitar
is such a creature

I would not pick up
being that my ancestors

triple every time
I look up

and seem to accomplish
more and more

each day
I fall farther

and farther behind
least I exhaust

the few sounds
I have left

In A World

In a world without you
we grow hungry

and trap our tongue
in a gray building

our deaf raking
strikes down language

in the smoke
the transparent trees

swerve
for no earthly reason

insects
speed along

crazy for you
scattering their minds

in a world without you
we become so different

we exist
only as a flicker at midday

The Mexican Dog

"this poem takes place before any white man stepped foot on this continent"

The Mexican dog
crossed the border

with all its fury
looking for the love

of his life
the river

was not built for this
he shuffled

back and forth
the land misshaped

and the sky in check
the fire promised

was so damn cold
only a dog

or a brown invader
could keep on keeping on

Wheelbarrow For Sale

this rusty
wheelbarrow

was once
used by

william carlos
williams

to write
about chickens

and rain---
you'll need a wheel

Motel Seis

"we'll leave the lights off for you"

The praying mantis
got a motel room

nearby the river orcas
splashed like nuns

a tin can dreamed up
little girls

a cactus sang curmudgeons
in the middle of the road

the room was cozy
with spiders wearing mama's belt

a deputy patrolled
the fingernails

an abandoned kiss
struggled to free itself

from you
at dawn the sun slithered up

the bent horizon
a rat in its belly