dancing bear - two poems


Cinco de Mayo

May 5th, San Jose
Latinos celebrate the independence
Of a country they no longer live in
May 5th and the rent is due
May 5th is on the check I write
To a landlord who doesn’t care
About roaches in my sink,
heater stuck on 75,
Short circuit in the bedroom light switch
Where’s the dinero, eh? 
Where’s the dinero?

Fireworks explode below my cracked ceiling
Below the tired wrinkled feet of Senor Ramirez
Who paces my ceiling at 3am
In the street below my dingy window
Barefoot boys run, duck into shadows
Sirens approach
Brown eyes stare up
See me grimace
Drag my cigarette
Muttering

~Was it worth it?~
The face of my building is a mural
Commissioned by local politicos
Chicano community commemorated
I am not Chicano
But I live in this building
Drinking tequila
From a bottle that passed over the border
Watching fireworks
Waiting for a knock on my door
Celebrate Cinco de Mayo 
Rent check in hand


A Rose in Snow

I want to be buried in the white ash of winter
I want to be buried so I may come back purified
My last bloom lay red like blood on snow
stark contrast - a rebirth, a death, a birth,
a birth of death and this pure white blanket to cover it
Sleep this winter sleep, sleep this winter sweet

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