Terkos

"Lo madreador no te quita lo pendejo"

- Amores Perros (2000)

On Wednesdays, my cousin & I collected moundsof cement, stacked against lead pipes & baseball bats.

When a trio of white boys dressed in black & blue,hollered look at those good beaners work, & unleashedtheir American mutt, my cousin rushed for the lead pipe

against their ribs, like Future Trunks slashing through Frieza,like fuck the odds. After he taught the dangers of border

hopping, and prized with an American mutt, my cousinwas awarded a thirty-second violation against the royalty wall,graffitied in stark, pink panthers. Bruised, he grinned,

& shaped his shaken fingers into a crown below his chin.On days we left La Selva, & bordered along Mannheim Rd.,

we kicked cop cars, swiped Cheetos from convenience stores,scanned the aisles of K-Mart, & stuffed Dragon Ball Z figurinesinto our black Dickies. On Wednesdays, my cousin & I

practiced our draw with an unloaded 9mm. From the frontof our jeans that hung below our asses, we pulled

a kame-ha-me-ha, & clicked-clicked the trigger.We celebrated as we killed whatever stood in our way to hurt us.On days we left La Selva, we taunted those who wore rival

colors. When a white boy perched on top of a cop car shrieked,I want my damn dog back, & a huddle of shaved heads

dressed in black & blue turned, stopped their transactionof crushed rocks, the white of our eyes filled our faces.With a 9mm in the air, my cousin trembled, pissed his pants

before we bolted. We heard the bark of American mutts throatedfrom skinheads as we cut alleyways all the way back to La Selva.

On days we left La Selva, we were remembered as the boyswho pissed their pants before a fight. I prayed our nameswould never be remembered as a graffitied streak on brick.