poemas algarin

8/9/2019 Poemas Algarin

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2/7

looking for the (arm spots5

his belly4s hot

his armpits still luke(arm5

his thighs5 gro(n so thin5 beginning to be cold5

my hands grab at his feet5 not yet icy cold5

I run my hands into his groin5

and there I find body heat5 I find

his scrotum still simmers (ith an

amber temperature5 his penis still

holds a glo(5 his buttocks

are not room temperature5

there is still a chance for a revival5

his eyes involuntarily open5

is there here a miracle)

(ill he stand up and (alk

among the sinners and the ill)

(ill he continue to (alk the earth beatified

spreading saintliness

8ust as he had during my youth)a kinder man lived only in books5

father4s feather/(eight touch

opened all of us to a fault5

because no(here else (ere (e ever loved

so gently and so fairly

he (as a 8udge (ith mercy and kindliness

in his heart

and understanding and balance (ere his la(5

he kne( that at the heart of la( (as generosity

and that mercy made human contracts (ork5

here (as a $aniel5 a &olomon5

a (orthy homespun philosopher of family 8ustice5

yes5 there is still a chance for a revival5

the rebirth that takes place in the mind.

Part II

I4ve already found my $eep/Nine photograph5


3/7

but mother spins an endless reel

she cannot stop to cradle a single frame5

she keeps on running the tape5

the tape of her fifty/seven years (ith him5

the tape of their never having slept a single night apart5the reel to real 8oy of eternally

re8uvenating happiness in married partnership5

the video of never having been lonely5

or alone or (ithout her man5

or (ithout his (arming her slippers

so that they (ouldn4t be cold to her feet5

or his cooking her special diet to cure her ulcer5

or his buttoning her blouse5

or pulling up her 3ipper5

or his patience (ith her mental break/ups5

or the (ay in (hich he crossed his legs

(hen company arrived5

but the reel that drives mother hauntingly (ild

is the empty bed5 life (ithout him5

even the seventy/five pound5more fragile than frail body

that his (asted frame had become5

even that (as her man5

still there5 still needing pillo(s5

still needing his teeth brushed5

his feces cleaned and removed5

needing his enemas5 needing his spit suctioned5

needing his liquid food5

cleaning his intestinal tube

through (hich travelled medication and nourishment5

yes5 that4s the real reel5

the non/occupied space5

the 3ero/point/place5

the nobody in space and place5

that4s the terror of Uncle Ale9perienced this morning5

that4s the tremor that rocked mother5


4/7

they both a(oke hoping a dream had passed

and that the 3ero/point nobody/in/place/space5

had evaporated and that father4s

more fragile than frail body

(ould still be there.

Part III

0other and Uncle Al

arose hoping that the police

had not been there5

that the death certificate

had not been signed5

hoping that the body

had not been picked up

by the *a ,a3 2uneral ,arlor embalmer5

(ho made a southbound turn

onto the northbound traffic on Queens Boulevard

(ith my father4s cadaver

neatly tucked into a body bag

in the rear of his station (agon5(hich I (as follo(ing5

furiously blo(ing my horn5

(aving my hands5

screaming5 (histling5

frantically blinking my lights5

fearing a collision

that (ould catapult father4s corpse

unceremoniously into the chill5 rainy night air5

a flying body bag and me5

my old man

doing triple somersaults

in the midst of his encroaching rigor mortis5

finally5 the embalmer5 da3ed by the oncoming headlights5

crossed over the median divider5

stopped at the red light5looked over at me5 shrugged5 and said5

6+ey5 he4s at 3ero/point/place


5/7

and nothing else can get at him5

only the great bla3e

shines on him no(5

he4s at home plate and safe.7

%hen the light turned greenand my father and the embalmer

drove off into the pure (hite light forever.

&unday5 August ::5 :; andmany s(eet recollections of el rinconcito en ?uncos5 donde "armencita5 0ar1a y 0al>n 8ugaban y

peleaban.

&unday afternoon and it is one/thirty and all the churchgoing latinos fuse each other (ith love

and the (omen dress so clean and pure and the children (alk so straight and pure and the fathers

look so proud and pure and everything so right and pure and even as I (ake up to my nephe(4s

voice coming through the (indo(5 there is pleasure in a(akening. 0y mother and father and

rafton and ?ohnny come in5 there is light in

their eyes5

there is pleasure in living5

there is no shame in being

full of love5

there is no shame in being

nude (hile my mother4s

eyes look in at me5

looking at my nude body5

body that she made mi9ing her blood

(ith my father4s5

and there4s no rushing for clothes

8ust s(eet openness in being

loved by my family.

&unday afternoon and it is

one/thirty and all the church/

going latinos have crossed themselves

and my body s(ings free.


6/7

A 0ongo Affair

On the corner by the plaza

in frontof

the entrance to on3@le3/,ad1n

in old &an ?uan5

a black ,uerto talks

about 6the race7

he talks of Boricuas

(ho are in Ne( York on (elfare

and on lines (aiting for food stamps

6yes5 it's true5 they've been taken out

and sent abroad5 and those that

(ent over tell me that they're

doing better over there than here

they tell me they get money

and medical aid

that thier rent is paid

that their clothes get brought

that their teeth get fi9ed

is that true)7

I have to admit that he has been

lied to5 misled5

that I kno( that all the goodies

he named humiliate the receiver5

that a man is demorali3ed

(hen his (oman and children

beg for (eekly checks

that even the fucking a man does

on a government bought mattress

dra(s blood from his cock

cockless5 sin espina dorsal5

mongothat4s itC

a (elfare fuck is a mongo affairC

mongo means flo8o5

mongo means bloodless5

mongo means soft5


7/7

mongo can not penetrate5

mongo can only tease

DEF

and (hen you (hispered

your anger into my ears

(hen you spoke of

6nosotros los que estamos preparados con las armas57

it (as talk of future

happiness

E

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