Calendars: All : October : November : December : January 2001

From: Premiación @ Ciudad Juarez

On the bussssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss .


1. Tijuana bus station snack bar // 2. Bus to Mexicali // 3. Long night of bus knives

1.

Tijuana bus station snack bar sign says
Caca-Cola ("turd") bottles twelve pesos.

Laugh, but then buy a cold one in a can.

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2. [Bus to Mexicali]

Evening dark. A truck has overturned – again –
on Rumorosa. So what else is new?

Twisted grade turns to emergency cones
with shortline traffic slowly crawling

by

reaching for Mexicali desert shaken
from mountains across dry lake flats played
out of nothing to mob song pocket radio.

Gas stations, shops and warehouses give way
to tangled city boulevards forever rebuilt.

"Hay quince minutos, pasajeros"
(there are fifteen minutes, passengers).

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3.

Long night of bus knifes across north Baja
California into Sonora.

Extra space to stab at sleep – two seats to
yourself – but wish she were here beside you.

The radio she gave you makes lone excuse
to spend dark hours hunting distant cities.

More leg room than a plane, but still your neck
cramps when you try to sleep without snoring.

Everyone speaks the foreign tongue. Your ears
catch only snatches of Mexican slang.

But that is enough. The honor that calls
you forth garnishes a secret pleasure.

"¿De donde eres? ¿El otro lado?"
(Where are you from? The other side?) Ah, sí.

Why do you go to Ciudad Juárez?
To attend a poetry conference.

You only tell three what prize you've won.

In restaurant where busses stop for breakfast
before her wall of driver photos, one
says her son is an artist, like you.

Answer, writer: "He should enter next year,
they have two contests, art and poetry."

Long night is over and your day begun.

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All Calendars OR August 2000 : September 2000 : October 2000 : November 2000 : December 2000 : January 2001 : February 2001

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Copyright 2001 Daniel Charles Thomas

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