B O R D E R L I N E S U I T E # 1
1.
a smell of burnt bushes in the air
over the passageway between houses
where the street dogs roam
one image to rule
them all
pigeons
rubber tires
trash .
"my children have never known
a lawn to play on
in front of the house..."
my children, mis hijos
¿donde puedan irse ahorita?
the ancient woman ghost
wandering through the streets
cries out in the night
my children, my children,
where can you go now?
precious verses
bitter sweet smell
smoke
2.
la nieta de nuestra dueña
- our landlady's grand-daughter -
sits talking outside late at night
on the sidewalk
with two friends -
both boys .
She is pretty and smart
and the boys (17, 18)
are (or seem to my
snoopy old eyes and ears)
among the better sort
(as my grandmothers might
have said, approvingly)
and I, bohemian
from another
century
(millennium)
sit upstairs at the window
typing a letter on
our kitchen table
to think of Jules et Jim
yes
y luego las dos Elenas
de Fuentes
3.
Mexico has transformed me
made me more proud
to be
A merde I can
with the
freedom
to throw Martha
Stewart
flaming bags of
poo
in French on my
own other
or, like the Zen master
simply
r e v e r e .
4.
" - the walrus is Paul - "
he was known for his silverware
and pewter, and
I once possessed a tankard
pretended his
six dollars in a thrift store
abandoned after divorce #2
aunque Vd. no lo cree
believe it or
not, small
human cliché .
5.
the WASPs are stinging, silently,
accusing me of betraying my class
without a single word
being spoken
no Latin quinceañeras
no fat Greek weddings
they have, as Bukoski wrote,
all fled south
to Del Mar (or Stalingrad alias
San Miguel
donde se habla mucho el inglés
sí señor, sí señora);
and I, for my past, part, hypocrite,
love México
for its clean, clear, class
sistema
porque aquí sí soy
guero y gabacho
because here I am
white, and White .
Mas sí soy más
hipocrita acá, norte
-americano
un-fascismably
hyphen
-ated
porque in tlakuilo
tlajtoa nauatl
in nehua tlajtoani
in kuikatl
dreaming of old lord
Moctezuma
who, when he sat, a chair
always appeared
según Gary Jennings
in Azteka
oajuaya ay
entonces, pues
God forgive me
if I repent
mientras que
mean while
the other wasps are stinging,
silently, without a single
word getting
spoke -
and no circled wagon lost
as I, sir Bee, drone,
can only scribble
ese toque
de
m i e l
(honey) .
6.
yes, the houses crowd together, up
and down steep hillsides
clinging to dusty slopes
perched
above tilted ramps
old staircases
new B O U L E V A R D S
and yes, there is a different meaning
to the comma
here, in Spanish :
SE SUBE, el precio de alcohol
después de las doce
IT GOES UP, the price of alcohol
after midnight
but Cinderella, now, has
lost her other shoe
and wanders from bar to cantina
looking for someone to speak French .
7.
Yes, the factories crowd together; Japan, Korea,
United States, Mexico, Germany, Taiwan .
They swallow workers at a dollar fifty hour
less, more .
Glance over their shoulders at
China rumbling distance
across the ocean competition .
Outside the warehouse back doors, in the
dumpsters of philosophy, Jaime Ruíz is
gathering illuminated manuscripts
from
T r a s h
( basura )
.
ART ES ARTE .
.
8.
una tarde de 1964
don Ramón estaba cruzando
el viejo puente del río
hacia el pueblo
cuando la rueda de la fortuna
en el festival de cerveza
se cayó
por tu lado izquierdo .
Se sacudió al girar
como una gran moneda fea
antes de que
se detuviera
con nubes de gritos
y polvo .
one afternoon in 1964
don Ramon was crossing the
old river bridge
into town
when the ferris wheel
at the beer carnival
fell over
on your left .
It rattled around
like a big ugly penny
before settling
down
into clouds of screams
and dust .
9.
the bus driver on the U.S. side is Mexican
hypen American .
But some of these people
(he says) wouldn't life a finger
to stop al qaeda terror .
His Spanish is better than mine
but he agrees when I speak
of the secret jealousy between
Chicano and Mexicano.
HELLO - MAY I HELP YOU
says the ATM machine
in McDonalds
written
English.
There Is A Subtext
(Virginia)
to the border .
Yes, Santa. There is a . .
WE ARE TURNING "Them" into U:S:
10.
The white boy from Virginia smiles
out the trolley window toward
the giant Mexican flag
floating
above
downtown
T i j u a n a
across
the line .
D A M N . . . (he says)
we're really going to Mexico?
His Navy buddies laugh.
Older tourists smile.
Evening workers going home
look
a w a y
(clutch their bags of discount)
------------------------------------------------------
on this same border trolley
I only write
dis content .
There be no table (tabula rasa) of contents.
We are all guilty in-no.cent
selves.
Sales.
There is nothing to receive. No
receipt to make any different
p r i c e
c h e q u e
on this, these
my
only
contraband (farruca)
w o r d s .
. .
11.
one night, tonight, for the first time in five years
of riding route taxis
(taxis de ruta) I
experience a gasoline station from
the viewpoint ( P.O.V )
of a passenger
yes .
Every social
structure
every geography
of human
place
has its script
and
this moment
is now for me
slightly, subtly, deliciously
d i f f e r e n t
(so what do you say to "diferance" now
señor infected Foucault
? )
Eh .
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12.
Namesake (tocayo) Daniel Ruanova is painting
soldiers with guns on guard on the wall
automatic muzzles uplifted toward the Sun -
then a huge green smear.
I ask him what is that?
Before then after
the target bomb .
He says .
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