Saturday, September 15, 2012

SEPTEMBER Dark Year of the Penguin




I close the door of my room
in silence
To not wake up the madman who lives downstairs
I walk on the hardwood looking for my papers,
Then, I transform,
Now I’m a poet and I write about my entrance
In a room full of posters, and hats,
With a broken window
Through which one could see at night
The shining words,
                Thrifty, Ralphs, McDonalds,
A bunch of faces are opened in the stars
And solitude is a previous silence that drowns me
Letting a white serpent grab my ankle,
It’s my mother’s voice, calling,
Telling me, rice pudding, sweetheart, natillas,
Telling me that my father’s watch hurts her in the wounds,
Calm down mother, or you’ll wake up the madman,
I show her Clinton’s head
Trapped in the T.V.
Talking about how everything is almost fixed,
I make her a kiss,
Give her a song by Pink Floyd,
I give her Pilar’s Peruvian hat,
And the leather hat,
And my own hat,
But the ocean explodes with rage
And there is my mother turning off all the stars,
Then, I pronounce the magic words:
                Thrifty, Ralphs, McDonalds
And her hand lets go of my frozen ankle,
She leaves causing the hardwood to squeak,
And the other madman screams


                                             Jorge Luis Rodriguez