Tijuana Gringo
Daniel's Journal	by Daniel Charles Thomas
26 September 2001.

clear channel news radio echoes southland
pacific coast and pocket Mexico
88 degrees right now in Hollywood
with nineties in the valleys and
triple digits across our inland empire
everything at right angles today
fighting for freedom
	without adjective
to describe a shift
	of San Andreas
character fault
	evil in the world
the broken web mind, our global village
donde cualquier telaraña red
no puede parar
	cannot stop those twin
jet bombs, human life,
	deadly tower crash
ay Mister Magoo
	filibustero
no hay nada
	you can do
the world says September Eleven
you sit up, take notice, and growl .
From the gates, from the lines behind each port
of entry
	two nations measure each other
one purpose, one face, one war
	and never
a voice to say no, or say yes,
	only
endless revision of identity
	beckoning forward
slowly, slowly
	this light
both red and green
	shining on your ears
frontier radio coast
	esta ilustración
enlightenment from European dreams
liberty whose independent struggle means
free nations under Monroe Hollywood
cuya doctrina lucha para siempre
en posters y volantes y palabras
measuring live lines between two planets
where now there were four, five others echoing
24 hours every damn channel
airplanes frozen on the ground a week, dark
seven nights, leap back toward new cloud moon
capital city prayer messages tell
their tones from churchtower bells .
It is a liberty whose markets growl
across all three of our continents:
America Norte, America Latina,
& lost Aztlantis
	in your soul
smoking mirror echo
	through a glass, darkly
one life leading both binational feet
onto the mountains where Bible movie
Moses points at four corners of the Earth:
Mexicali sprawls EAST before colored river dividing coast from continent. With arms to NORTH, my staff of U.S. measures empire from sea to shining sea. WEST your ocean of the Moon remembers she leapt out of water into the sky. And peninsula to your SOUTH takes rancho y ciudad into the future .
Meanwhile, in all four corners of real world,
everyone must show identification
again and again and again and again --
Kuchama thunderstorm in holy mountain
flash flood from that sierra to the coast a
shining fire of terror has conquered
half our being. The other half takes note .
Your shield is word and act and one true love
that Moon may eclipse but the Sun still shine
and Eagle knows it has good cause to fight .
No prophecies of Nostradamus against
the towers of New City can change
one fact everything must change to die .
Only two certainties in this world :
between each birth and our end comes all the
phalanx of war and peace, phoenix pleasures
and griefs, daily market trips, and that
last, lingering sigh, goodbye, goodbye....
this is the sadness that grips our frontier
awakening to deadly clarion call
you too can be a target in the Fall .

Tijuana Gringo

Daniel's Journal

by Daniel Charles Thomas

26 September 2001.

I wrote this rather heavy-handed verse yesterday and today. It still needs work. Rambles and hammers like a new jalopy begging for a tune-up. Bet you didn't know we poets still make "new jalopies" eh? Ey.

Border Autumn 2001

clear channel news radio echoes southland

pacific coast and pocket Mexico

88 degrees right now in Hollywood

with nineties in the valleys and

triple digits across our inland empire

everything at right angles today

fighting for freedom

without adjective

to describe a shift

of San Andreas

character fault

evil in the world

the broken web mind, our global village

donde cualquier telaraña red

no puede parar

cannot stop those twin

jet bombs, human life,

deadly tower crash

ay Mister Magoo

filibustero

no hay nada

you can do

the world says September Eleven

you sit up, take notice, and growl .

From the gates, from the lines behind each port

of entry

two nations measure each other

one purpose, one face, one war

and never

a voice to say no, or say yes,

only

endless revision of identity

beckoning forward

slowly, slowly

this light

both red and green

shining on your ears

frontier radio coast

esta ilustración

enlightenment from European dreams

liberty whose independent struggle means

free nations under Monroe Hollywood

cuya doctrina lucha para siempre

en posters y volantes y palabras

measuring live lines between two planets

where now there were four, five others echoing

24 hours every damn channel

airplanes frozen on the ground a week, dark

seven nights, leap back toward new cloud moon

capital city prayer messages tell

their tones from churchtower bells .

It is a liberty whose markets growl

across all three of our continents:

America Norte, America Latina,

& lost Aztlantis

in your soul

smoking mirror echo

through a glass, darkly

one life leading both binational feet

onto the mountains where Bible movie

Moses points at four corners of the Earth:

Mexicali sprawls EAST before colored river dividing coast from continent. With arms to NORTH, my staff of U.S. measures empire from sea to shining sea. WEST your ocean of the Moon remembers she leapt out of water into the sky. And peninsula to your SOUTH takes rancho y ciudad into the future .

Meanwhile, in all four corners of real world,

everyone must show identification

again and again and again and again --

Kuchama thunderstorm in holy mountain

flash flood from that sierra to the coast a

shining fire of terror has conquered

half our being. The other half takes note .

Your shield is word and act and one true love

that Moon may eclipse but the Sun still shine

and Eagle knows it has good cause to fight .

No prophecies of Nostradamus against

the towers of New City can change

I wrote this rather heavy-handed verse yesterday and today.
It still needs work. Rambles and hammers like a new
jalopy begging for a tune-up.
Bet you didn't know we poets still make "new jalopies" eh?
Ey.

Mexicali sprawls EAST before colored
river dividing coast from continent.
With arms to NORTH, my staff of U.S.
measures empire from sea to shining sea.
WEST your ocean of the Moon remembers
she leapt out of water into the sky.
And peninsula to your SOUTH takes
rancho y ciudad into the future .

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Gringo: All Calendars

July 2001
August 2001
September 2001

October 2001
November 2001
December 2001

Michael: August 2000-July 2001
Love found, love lost