hot spring and murder
Phantom of mist and light
spirit dancer near agua calientearrouses buried treasure echo of
murder at the other end of town .One in two pillars
pierce Tijuana .Dancer ghost sees both
ways across the cityupriver into parachute suburbs
down lagoon toward the seapast old neighborhoods
who witnessed the killingsto the tomb of a soldier
Juan and the girl
and the riot. 1938 .
The phantom saw her nightengale
torn from its cageonly killing and execution
ley fuga running from gunsonly human sacrifice for
rape and bloody murderonly that horror could
balance the nightengalewith her heart pierced
by an eagle's beak .
The awful crime was done around the corner. "Do you know, Gringo, how historic this block is?" a neighbor once asked me, and would have said more, but (@^!0$ said "shut up! Shut UP! Don't encourage him, for God's sake!" and threatened me with article thirty-three -- expulsion from Mexico -- if I write about this killing...
but in my mind the horror went forward, conspired with another myth, la faraona, and created a dialogue from either end of downtown, discussing the historical powers of Cantú, Rodríguez, Cárdenas, and postmodern Tenochtitlan vis a vis la leyenda negra.
An'I ain'talkin 'mo.
Xcpt tu sey dat da pipl nau've
gahn & meid'im inta a SentGo figr. Nuf sed.
Tijuana Gringo | Poems |