Reader's Block
Chale, calle rota
Cracked pavement road
Se cae el nino, que no?
One dirt-road stolen from me,
Manzana, fresa, uva, naranja
Pera pero no hay water to feed la mente
De la tierra sin roots…
I know que se dice raices to my 10-year-old nieces
Que no tienen calles limpias to jump rope, double-dutch skills,
Play patty cake, chase a globo, que no?
Las traen de las manos, no self-leaders,
Persiguidoras de su libertad, stuck
En un peligroso carro rojo,
Don't shoot, don't shoot,
Too late, too late,
You had to date that cholo
With the white vans pa' que se enoje el jefe,
now el se chingo because he did shoot
And you an accessory, too,
Que pendeja, que no?
Tocan las trompetas
The Lost Boy while you put a chile
On the birria siguen los beans con brown rice
Everyone's around the table,
La tia, el tio, el chato, la chata
Horchata, tamales
Un guey que ronca en un rincon
And yourr dad won't stop drinking
Life-sinking, cheated on your mom but he still
Lives in the house with four kids,
Que pendejo, que no?
No hay paz in this
I-don't-give-a-fuck muchachita world
Que conozco a little
Pinche "moral" media me la pone
Hard at the escuela por
Ser color canela but I can't see it
Por que se me broke la antena,
A Los Angeles muchacho
with his oldies blasting on a
Dinasaurus CD player
Wheels rolling con brincos,
Old ass autobus
Makes me shake like arthritis
Teeth rattle like my first fist fight
En la escuela con Felipe, el gordo,
Two feet above me, me quito
The two quarters que tenia que
Perdio to a pretty I-don't-give-a-fuck muchachita
He got a kick in the guebos
And I had a black eye con un bisted
Later used to make carne asada,
Que pendejos, que no?
No hay maid in the house
To wash your ropa and the dishes
Al mismo tiempo,
Nomas one Super Mexican-Mom con
Two or three hands que te tiran
Un zapato if your first girl
Goes down on you and y peor
Te sorprende
Like yo-no-fui
But pretty red lipstick on your cheek
Explica todo like enchilada and lasagna recipe books,
Que pendejo, que no?
No tengo lenjuaje in the street
Nomas soy what you want me to speak
Por que ellos no entienden espanol
En la marketa, while la boca
De una parece metralleta in the back
Twenty people in the line y no se calla
And ten of them want to understand
De que habla por que Guatemala spanish
is too fast for me, que el me golpio,
el nino entrometido se metio,
le pego, y le pego, yo agarre la escoba
and hit him in the face, no one cares
to know cuando vienen dos o tres policias
on patrol to call up a domestic dispute,
one kid has a broken leg pero no entienden
what she says, so she's to blame for everything,
el dad se escapa for a a few days
and next week, a kid ends up bloodied in the face,
with more than one broken leg and
su comfort mom en la carcel paying for what el padre did,
pinches policias,
que pendejos, que no?
Que pinches historias con mal fin
Hay un solution for that
Be Mexican, Latino or Whatever, be proud of it
Mi amigo
If it wasn't la verdad
No te la digo
Pero just like everywhere
You do not give a fuck,
Fuck-off to Los Angeles Land then
Con sus movies y sus internets
Y sus coffee shops, uno sabe a fresa,
I heard, but I prefer the fresa, por favor,
Tengo dos lenguajes, if you don't have the other,
Te chingastes, part of an unheard of mestizaje,
Hopefully te ofendi, that way you come back to mi,
Me das un fregadaso, I'll have another historia
En mi libro, pues quien soy, pues, verdad?
Quien me creo, muy chingon, que no?
Soy chingon!
That's all you need to know, no tan buey,
No tan smart,
Ni tan pendejo.
Copyright 2009, Jose Zuniga
Review