El  Señor De Los Milagros

Just south of downtown San Antonio
El  Señor De Los Milagros
tried his best to cure me of tuberculosis

what a waste of time
those fifty years ago

the moon and sun
and all their dust
suspended in my lungs
like snowglobes full of bacteria

El  Señor is out of miracles now
the bones of God
blacken the sky

the gorditas they sell
in front of Mi Tierra on weekends
taste of the earth

and go down peacefully
to the show the world
that San Antonio's got cojones
but uses them
only in self-defense