Gun, and: El Norte
Rent from DeepDyve- Gun, and: El Norte
Gun
the bullets had his face in the dove of his bloodhe begged God to take the soul from his bodyso he wouldn't cry about his exile from timehe thought of all the empty shoes in his closet
all that was left were the ashes of a solitary birdhe worried they wouldn't spell his name rightfeared forever and the shattered light without lovewhile bullets crushed their sorrows into stones into dust
he couldn't feel his face as they joined the club of funeralsall the cells became embers as he saw a star in his handhe thought about his mother whom he loved like a mountainhe'll never forgive the shooter for forcing them past the door of chains
he swore he could smell snow as he watched his garden greenheard mourning doves cry out his name on a tv screen
El Norte
when he was 8 in the white heat of El Infiernitoguarding their fruit truck they murdered his fatherand the squawking blue birds of his young hopeflew away into the gut of lovely nightand the proud red plums he held rolled downthe blood alley as rain fell like broken feathers [End Page 171]
when he was in the flesh of his blue youthsongs turned to skulls in his best friend's eyesthey smiled as they slit her white naked throatand stuffed panties in her red mouth of dreamsthat dia de los muertos she became the flowers of graves.seeing a body was nothing anymore
when he was 12 narcos beat him blindso he couldn't see their skulls of red deathhis tearless baby cousins could only look onSanta Muerte made him lick the white thighs of crack"You'll feel freed like a bird enteringa red cloud in the bruise of blue night"
his dirty government can't pull up its pants."If your house is burning, jump out the window"so he took the lazy train of hopeful skeletonswith a handful of plums and his invisible hopeand crossed the red white and blue border of eagleslike a beautiful feather on the veins of lonely wind
for the children of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras [End Page 172]
Paul Lobo Portugés teaches creative writing at UCSB and previously taught at UC Berkeley, USC, and the University of Provence. His books include Sorrow and Hope, Breaking Bread, The Visionary Poetics of Allen Ginsberg, Saving Grace, Hands Across the Earth, The Flower Vendor, Paper Song, Aztec Birth, The Body Electric Journal, The Silent Spring of Rachel Carson, Ginsberg: On Tibetan Buddhism, Mantras, Drugs, The Bullet Had His Face in the Dove of His Blood, Witness, and Gracias a la Vida (forthcoming). His poems appear in magazines including Floricanto, the American Journal of Poetry, Hambone, Chelsea, and River Styx, and in anthologies including El Tecolote, Overthrowing Capitalism, The Asian Writer, Naropa Anthology, across the Americas, Europe, Latin America, and Asia. He is the recipient of awards from the National Endowment and the Fulbright Commission, among others.
