(( vehicle ))

this body, this vehicle
used up and abandoned,
a car left at the side of the road.

and where is he now,
wandering in the night, no doubt,
looking to steal a new car.

and drive it somewhere else,
to new faces and places, yet in the back,
so many questions still.

and they're along for the ride,
quietly waiting, 'til the next time around,
or the next, or the next...

------------

este cuerpo, este vehículo
consumido y abandonado,
un coche se fue en el lado del camino.

y donde ahora está él,
vagando en la noche, está verdad,
mirada para robar un nuevo coche.

y él lo toma en alguna parte,
a las nuevas caras y a los lugares, con todo en las atras,
tan muchas preguntas a contestar

y están aquí para el viaje,
el esperar reservado hasta la próxima vez,
o el siguiente, o el siguiente…

* al dia *

riot police huddled on a side street,
wide-eyed fresh scrubbed faces
wrapped in kevlar and plexiglass.

the ancient aztec woman blows smoke
of copal in your face, every step a benidicion
in this city sinking into the earth.

looking down on calle moneda,
sunlight so bright and clear
through the eyes of a young cat.

sitting now in the still, espacio infinitum
of a leaning edifice, heaven above
the stones carved by untold hands.

symbols jumping across the distance
of time brand themselves on skin,
always, but never quite making the leap.

* esta noche *

a father banging the drum, playing the trumpet, watching his niña,
cool young studs in fashion gear standing by their shiny motocicletas,
couples fucking in backseat parked cars of darkened calles.

a tired mother, a smile to the little girl crying on the metro,
borrachos and the choque machine man wandering in the plaza,
the distracted policeman sending a text message from his platform.

children lighting fireworks on quiet midnight cobblestone streets,
a friend drinking pulque with a thousand years old cult of sacrifice,
breathing, feeling, dissolving, solo en el noche atras la catedral.

((addendum))

(the burning christmas tree) last night, the final night of this stay in mexico city, i walked down calle mixcalco toward my hotel. passing the plaza nuestro señora de san loreta, i stopped for a moment, to feel the air.

this favorite space, of all the many beautiful ones here, trashy and elegant. an ancient spanish baroque building leaning to the east, and like many of the structures here, literally sinking into the earth. the sense is of the ground breathing in and out.

a block away from the hotel, at the corner, i saw a flash of light in a huge pile of garbage on the street. seeming to spontaneously combust, a christmas tree spiked into the pile burst into flames on the empty street.

bewildered, it stopped me dead in my tracks...coming to my senses, i hustled into the hotel niza, the sound of the flames crackling in my ears.

+ bethlehem + (pt. i)

fever and nauseous, yet each day better,
no home, amazing simple kindness of friends,
no food no cry, empty and peace to all...

enjoying the crazed, chaotic, frenzied moment,
doesn't matter if the shopping gets done,
beautiful christmas lights of backed up traffic.

displaced hive of bees cut down, left at the side of the road,
load them in the trunk, buzzing energetically around your head,
grateful to be: one man's trash, another's treasure...

losing track of the days, you go to work on saturday
thinkin' it's friday, look up to vibrant lights and colors,
the quarter moon shines through early morning fog.

leave this body behind, this vessel bless it,
is sometimes a prison, subtle vibrations, pulse
of beating heart and lungs, freely received, free to let go...

lux/i/foros (lucid flying)

"lucifer qui mane oriebaris"...


growing out from a bluff side, an evergreen cedar,
with fascination, he steps out across the chasm,
and into the smooth entangled branches.

looking down, roots like legs send into the darkness,
another moment, it gives way and he falls back,
into empty sky, stars above, city lights far below.

in free descent now, wind beating mercilessly,
gazing deeply, then eyes closed and letting go,
at peace, gravity's weight begins to fade.

* gravity (cualquier cosa sentir vivo) *

night now the moon is full, ascending to pierce indigo blue,
only a moment later, or two, back again this heaviness of flesh,
reaching, trying to feel, a burning coal against your skin,
now plunging into icy wetness, anything to tell you you're alive,
some connection, to wake from this dream of ghosts and apparition.



noche ahora la luna es llena, asciende para cortar el azul de indigo,
solamente un momento más, o dos, otra vez este peso de la carne,
tocando para sentir, un carbón fiero contra su piel,
ahora en las aguas heladas, cualquier cosa sentir vivo,
una conexión, para a despierte de este sueño de fantasmas y aparición.

"midsummer stupa dream (on impermanence)"

the monks, in sand colored habits, seated themselves in concentric rings rising up the inside of the beehive like structure. at the base and looking up at them, the elder abbot, neither male nor female with a head of shaved stubble, began speaking of the glories of dying in this way, and of how nirvana awaited directly on the other side for those who gave themselves willingly to it.

he, and a few of the others, knew that their only chance of surviving the gas was to sit near the top of the hive, where a couple of windows afforded an escape path if they could not hold their breath for long enough.

finding a place, he leaned forward with the others into a sitting fetal position. the last thing he saw before closing his eyes was the shaved heads of row upon row of young male devotees. then, the snakelike hiss of gas as all faded to blackness.

now, outside the temple, he rode up in a sedan with the other defectors. they stepped into the darkness and quickly stole up the hillside the stupa was built into. by a flickering firelight, he saw a middle-aged monk directing bhikkus in the disposal of the bodies.

walking into the aftermath, he pulled the cowl over his face to avoid the director's gaze. stepping into a room of scattered bodies, he felt an energetic scurrying and looked down to the floor. a multitude of creatures, ants, grasshoppers, crabs and the like, were devouring each other as they swarmed on the parched ground.

reaching down, he picked up a green grasshopper, intent on eating a tiny ant, even as it was being consumed by a much larger one. they began crawling on and biting his legs and hands. he brushed them away, but then became fascinated by the insistence of their actions, and held still as they continued to swarm...