Hands

I love this city
Emerald of the Pacific
though sometimes her gloomy days
can cloud your mind
Then again, I love the rain
always have
it washes away the worthless sorrow
the downtown dirt
the ocean salt
and the seagull shit

My soul, cleansed
bleached, purified
My heart pumping
beating, raging

I was walking down ALki last week
and walking up Gasworks on Friday
if you had seen us then
you would have thought that we were holding hands
when in reality she was pulling me out of hell
and perhaps so was I

But if you see us now
you will have no doubt that we are holding hands

"...as long as I know how to love, I know I'm still alive"
Gloria Gaynor

Desiderata

I felt so old last night
sitting on a rocking chair
watching raindrops
falling in a suicidal slide
down the window pane

Roberta Flack is trapped
or so it seems
inside an old AM radio
I could let her out
but then I would be alone

I look at the clock, again
then at a butcher knife
waiting for the perfect time
to cut off one of my ears
like Vincent
or to shave my eyebrows and nipples
like Geldof

But then I light another cigarette
and I wonder if that would change a thing
if it would distract me from the pain
as I hide under an umbrella
from melancholy bombs

As the poison of love
travels through my vessels
a distorted vision of my present
continues to haunt my future
like a ghost
as I face the daunting task
of living day
after day

Bipartisanship

I'll hug your Elephant
if you kiss my Ass

(bumpersticker philosophy)
- Unknown (no, it's not Plato, I'm guessing an Ex-Nader supporter gone Postal)

To say goodbye

To say goodbye
and turn your back on love
will make you cry

To turn your back on blue eyes
with a titanical sunk look
is sincerely impossible
and impossibly sincere

It's Roberta Flack, Mario Benedetti
Pablo Picasso and Paul Gaugin crying at a funeral
the funeral of hope

To give deaf ears to a broken voice
with a Callas sudden sigh
is the darkness all around me
in a deadly embrace

It's Nat King Cole, Vincent Van Gogh and Chavela Vargas
Arthur Rimbaud and Salvador Dali carrying the hearse
the hearse of love

That is why to say goodbye
and turn my back on you
will make me die.

La Rue Bondage

It’s a new moon night
And this bible black sky
becomes canvas for neon claws

Cold and overcast
this night on which the sun hides
blushing in shame

Slowly and patiently
a river of obsession begins to flow in my veins
the look of fixation clouds my sight
and this author’s alter-ego comes to life
Dom Pablo, as he demands to be called
A strange personification
of some obscure emerald smuggler
Witty and powerful
all dressed in black
Leather boots and tight denim
Leather jacket, no shirt and and ominous black whip

Clean cut Ibero-latin man
or Mexican pool boy with a twisted smile
with a very thick accent
handcuffs and carabiners
smoking Gitanes

She knows he is a teddy bear
his love shows through his eyes
and yet, she will obey
“Porque lo digo yo” - because I say so, he says
as he lands the whip on her naked derriere
with deadly accuracy
“Weppo” leaving a bright red kiss shaped mark
on her pale white skin
“Weppo” – Because I say so, mami
as the door closes behind them
the light that escapes through the keyhole
is now a flashlight that unveils a hidden world
a world you never knew about
or maybe you have....

Graceland

I remember when I was a kid
all my friends wanted to be Superman
Aquaman, Ultraman
Spiderman or Captain America
Me? I wanted to be Elvis
Like a steamroller baby

James Dean was before my time
Mickey Rourke was just starting
but The King
aah, he was something else

The mystic, the aplomb, the charm
"a little less conversation
a little more action"
and women would fall at his feet
like popcorn in a matinee

"When I was a teen I used to vandalize public phones,
now that I've grown up I vandalize my own"
- Cazuza

The Fountain of Salmacis

That bright yellow thing is out
shinning all over us
summer is here, without a doubt

I might go bathe in it
and while the Acapulco Plaza
or the Yacht Club seem farther than they have ever been
I still embrace the Sun

and son of a bitch, how bored am I
on this sunny late morning friday
it's one of my days off but everyone is at work
and there's no scandinavian princess to spank

Friday, like no other
I will go again to that special place of mine
you know where I'll be
keeping the tan, tan
maybe listening to Plant
or the trickling water falling
in the fountain I've renamed
as "The Fountain of Salmacis"

4th of July 2007

Spent the 4th of July with Erik, the Pretty Girl, Tadster et al.
As always a time to reflect on the amazing beauty and grandeur of this land, of this beloved Country that I have embraced ever since I remember.
Skateboarding on Orange Ave in Coronado Calif is one of my best memories of my childhood. While I did grow up in Mexico we also had a condo at the Coronado Seashore Towers (better known as the Taco Towers) and a house in La Jolla.
My dad and I would come twice a year and do the whole San Diego Zoo, Sea World, Disneyland thing, and of course, shopping sprees that were out of control. We would spend most of the time in Coronado, where I would spend hours hanging out at the local pizza place playing centipede after buying obnoxious amounts of candy bars at the now defunct Alpha-Beta.
We would also stay in Newport Beach, at my brother's (Johnny Gerber - Wolrd Champion Formula Ford 1971) and he would always take me go-kart racing and coach me.
While I am Mexican American I am a Proud American and I took this day to reflect and humbly thank our Troops, those boys are out there KICKING ASS while we sit and watch fireworks from the comfort and peace of our homes, this is thanks to THEM.
Pictures from the Fireworks Display, here in Lake Union, WA.