Poetry / Poesía

Pinto Mass: The Least of My Brethren

************************* the procession of Pintos1 . fidgets and forms at the entrance to the church. And the choir of Fallen Angels and social misfits takes its place clapping and singing a hymn. the small bald prison priest enters and the captive congregation stands. The Altar Boys, tattooed and scarred donned in black robes, around the Altar assembles. their sins washed white as snow. And vicariously visible on wrists, forearms, necks Placasos2: Tattoos, Tacs. Even on foreheads. territorial rights. rites of Passage. An indigo teardrop under an eye: Torcidos. Don’t do the crime, if you cant do th’time. the two readers race through the words of the Prophets and the Apostle Paul in spanish and English. When the gifts of the Water and the Wine are brought forward a Huelga Eagle3 tattoo escapes from beneath ********************** notes: 1. pinto, torcido: slang terms for a sleeve. convict, jailbird 2. placasos: slang term for gang Then Spider, Payaso signs, gang affiliations 3. Huelga eagle symbol of the Joker and Chuy and eagle representing cesar Gangster and Puppet4 chavez or united Farm WorkAnd the other dudes ers union. 4. popular nicknames for chicano stumble forward youth. And take the Host into repentant mouths. there is no Wine or Collection Basket here.

Richard Ríos

Peyote and My Other Self

************************* Sacred buttons. Sprinkled about by the Gods. Few knew of you. The Huicholes*. know of your sacred fields. They journey there every year to gather you up. Don’t fall asleep among them or you might never wake up again. Like a chaw of tobacco a coca leaf; they say you give inspiritation, a green Muse green priestly pulp, a cud of holy hallucinations, a cocktail of super-natural, surrealistic incantations, leading us to encounter our other self. And what will we find when we meet face to face with mi otro yo? Are we indeed our worst enemy? our own deadly foe? or might we turn out to be our own best friend?

*natives of central Mexico

The Maguey

************************* it was holy juice from the heart of a Maguey. A heart stabbed by the deft hand of a man in tune with death. A Maguey Stabbing the sky. Bleeding to death, drop by drop white liquid, plasma. Pulque*. nectar of the Gods Father of Aztec visions and re-visions Communion between God and man. sacred sap. Enibriant, Intoxicant One of transformation, transmutation, a direct line, pathway to the heavens.

*a fermented liquor made rom the Maguey