FIELD TRIP

Listening to classic music

on a ninety cents radio

inside a bouncing bus,

I lost sense of time.

Time travels fast.

We are passing right through the heart of Hollywood,

this glamorous place

is not a fantasy land.

It is cold and noisy,

a ghetto of weird

and eccentric people

wandering the streets

searching for fame

as I do

for inspiration.

The streets are filthy,

the bus bounces back and forth,

the tires are tortured by the many holes,

there is nothing classic about this place.

I notice because now

the traffic is slowing down

and my mind is taking mental notes.

This is a trip for my art class,

a rare opportunity to do something different

apart from the routine

I am with my class,

but somehow

I feel alone.

The weird thing about today

is that my heart is split in two.

One side wants to cry,

and the other is jumping of joy.

Perhaps you wonder why, Ms. Rae.

My cousin lost his soul mate

his beautiful wife

He is so hurt. I am too

He is like a brother,

my own blood.

There is nothing to ease the pain at all,

She is resting in peace,

and I try to smile

to be with the group

Instead, I have to pretend that everything is fine.

Not everything is bad.

Life as they say must go “on.”

Inside the art buildings

the other side of my heart feels alive

joyful, and my entire body feels the chills

the feeling I get when I am in a church.

I couldn’t imagine for a moment

the expression on my face when I came inside a room

full of Latin American Art

at that precise moment

when the unexpected happened.

An art piece so large

jumped in front of me

so powerful and captivating,

She was telling me

“Look at me, here I am

to give you peace of mind”

I could hardly hold my breath

and I didn’t know what to do

smile or cry

or both.

TV

While looking at your picture

alone at my desk,

for no reason at all

this image came to my mind.

You sitting on the bed

on the right side, I recall.

You called me and told me to sit down

next to you.

I was very young then.

You told me to look

at the images on the TV

or movie screen perhaps.

CAN YOU SEE IT, SON?

CAN YOU SEE IT?

What magnificent images,

great colors and sound

WOW!!!

It is just great.

Dad, all I see is dust,

and a white cloth nailed to the wall

nothing more.

I love you so much,

so I followed your imagination

and pretended it was real.

So young,

just a kid,

how could I understand?

the powerful

destruction

of

alcohol.

HOMELESS

As the last leaf hangs from a tree

verging on decline,

so, is the homeless on the street

hanging to the last piece of bread

from his bony hand.

As the last drop of water on a leaf

waits its turn to evaporate

under the heat of the sun,

the homeless man waits his turn, lonely,

his mouth dry,

he waits for the rain

when the heat is more than hundred degrees.

Next year,

the tree will have new leaves,

fresh colors,

dancing with the light

playing with the birds.

The homeless man is

dead

and

forgotten.

ALL ABOUT YOU

It is your birthday,

your smile appears in a flash

warming up the cold spot in my soul,

giving me comfort,

giving me peace of mind knowing you are still with me.

Here is why I do think you never left,

when I am a little down, thirsty of your presence

in need to organize my thoughts and calm my nerves

I drink a diet Pepsi

the bittersweet flavor,

the fizz tingling on my lips,

reminds me of your kiss.

When my self-esteem hits rock bottom

I take a hot shower until my skin turns pink,

and the fog reaches the ceiling

and the mirror starts to cry

I turn the water to cold

this switch is like a start jumping and old car.

For a while, I kept a bottle of water in the car,

bubble gum inside the glove compartment

even if all I drink is coffee all day long

and I don’t clean my car as I used to.

I am learning to text on my cell phone

even when I know I am ruining my grammar

by braking full sentences into small pieces

and I want to LOL about my stupidity.

For no reason at all

I keep asking for mustard in a restaurant

I don’t use it, but it keeps me company.

Baby, it is all about you,

you never left

and even if I don’t see you anymore

you are here with me

in every inch of my body

in every cell of my brain.

Happy birthday to you.

AFRICA

With every step

Many tears drop

Many lives lost.

With every step

The struggle persists

The fight goes on.

Freedom hardest job

Is to keep it alive

Is to innovate

To educate

To be preserved

At any cost.

“ALIVE”

Saturday 29^th, 2007

This morning, like any other in December, is cold and dark; a cup of hot Guatemalan coffee keeps me company, while driving south on the 14 freeway on my way to work.

I am driving in the middle lane and there is not any traffic in front of me; it is about four o’clock in the morning. I see a small car on the right lane about one hundred and fifty feet or half a football field. We are driving about sixty five miles an hour. I see behind in the distance a couple of trucks that I passed close to avenue K.

The atmosphere is somewhat somber; the weather reports on the radio predicted rain and mild winds since last Thursday, still nothing, it is clear and damn cold. The holidays came to fast this year and I remember that a lot of stores already had ornaments for sale way before October. Why do I think about this right now? Sometimes when the routine is here to hunt me down, I try to make sense of mindless stuff so the time goes fast or maybe, just maybe, I think something to write about.

I am driving my wife’s Chevy Blazer, even though the gas prices are to the roof. Still I feel secure in this vehicle. Last week I noticed the tires needed to be changed so there is not better gift for my family than safety, after all the kids ride on it every day.

Because of the coffee I am fully awake and very alert. I noticed that when I drive this vehicle I check the mirrors way too much, just in case I have to slow a bit more, I don’t want to get a ticket at the end of the year.

I am driving now between avenue L and M, but I noticed on the left line a vehicle coming too fast behind the small car, just like the CHP does when they have an emergency, they drive fast without the flashing lights or sirens. My instinct tells me to change lanes, so I move to the right lane and slow down to fifty, just in case. To my surprise the vehicle passes the small car from the right side, which is like drifting sand and debris and for not reason at all anybody with their full senses would try to attempt to do such a maneuver, still the driver does it.

What happens next is in a fraction of a second, everything I see is in slow motion as if I am witnessing slide by slide an action movie, and I am in the middle of everything. The vehicle driving at about a hundred miles an hour is a truck, I think is grey. The driver manages to get back into the freeway in front of the small car without hitting it, and comes in a semicircular trajectory in front of me. I am in full control and hit the brakes as hard as I can hold the stirring wheel for dear life. Meanwhile the pick up truck keeps drifting as a kid on ice while learning to skate. The truck makes one hundred and eighty degrees turn in the air, hitting ground and turning and twisting.

I noticed the traffic behind coming close so I continue driving to prevent any other accident; there is a Vons and a Ride-Aid truck, and a lot of cars stopping. I keep driving holding the wheel tight that the flow of my blood stops for reaching my hands for a while. With all the commotion the face of my wife and my kids comes to mind, they are at home sleeping unaware of this incident that could have changed their life forever.

I did not realize that I was in shock until I noticed I wasn’t wearing my name tag and the stuff I usually bring to work. My head was ready to explode. Today nothing and nobody will make me mad; I will work as hard as I can in silence, meditating the gift of one more day.

I am glad Jeff was there to listen, I respect his opinion and admire his pride as a worker; he is a good man and that’s how I see myself sometimes. Today I am glad to be alive, I want to cry and feel the need for a drink, but neither will do me good. When I go home I will tell my kids and my wife how much I love them.

BETTER SENSE OF HUMOR

     My new year’s resolution is to have a better sense of humor; I started right away and here is proof of it. I was asked in three separate occasions on January 1st, by three different people from different nationalities to go to their churches, temples and places of worship. But why…do I look desperate? Do I need salvation? What was the reason they asked me?

    Anyway, I thanked them for caring and told them I was reading the books of Edgar Allan Poe. (That name sounds religious enough; I could have said I was watching the great Bill Maher TV show every week). They all told me that it was great and as long I was a believer, I was going to be saved.

    The same day at the mall I was asked by different gentlemen to join their political parties; I thought it was weird to talk politics this early in the morning, the first hours of the first day of the new decade, but it happened. The most aggressive of them was an older gentleman. He told me to join them because there is going to be a revolution and they need people of my kind (Right away I thought of a cartoon from Disney, Phineas and Ferb, a program my daughters watch; The girl Candace always says “Oh no you didn’t”). The gentleman also asked me, “By the way, what race are you?” I, honoring my promise to be civilized, even in the worst situations, and with a straight face, I answered “Human”. The old man left fuming; I think he was thanking me or something like that, because he was a couple feet away and I could only hear the last word (“%$#@ you”).

    Wow, it is great that I had this resolution at the beginning of the year, because if not I could have been insulted and ruined my family day out at the mall.