[In celebration of our work together co-editing the transnational assemblage of North and South American poetry “from origins to present,” in progress and scheduled for publication by University of California Press, I’m posting here these three connected poems from Javier Taboada’s most recent gathering. The delving here into the realities of his own “new localism” is a supplement for me to the more transpersonal mindscape of his earlier 'El Niño de Varas' (The Whipping Boy), published previously in Poems and Poetics. (J.R.)]
HELLO, ABRAHAM
he looked like Sai Baba but
without vomiting up watches golden
eggs
sometimes dressed like Yoko Ono
with his miniskirt —red—
and his white plastic glasses
a musketeer sometimes an old lady
without the love of Jesus in his heart
well
it’s not like it’s a boarding house
I saw Toño
yelling
GET
UP LAZARUS
to a dead pine branch he kicked across the
sidewalk
walking naked between cars
swimming in the fountain’s rank water
or blowing kisses to make me look
hello
hearing a name
Abraham
or Alfredo
hello,
Abraham
feeling his hand in mine
the tickling of a thousand bedbugs
in my gooseflesh
hello, Toño
owner of a backpack filled with drawings
paving stones sticks
garlic cloves wrapped
in nylon pantyhose
hello, Toño
the guy who railed BEHOLD THE WOMAN
and lifted up his skirt
his testicles swinging in the breeze
hey
Abraham
so
glad you finally showed up
I
went by the synagogue the other day
I
was waiting for you
got
a cigarette
and then he told me about his boyfriend
Freddy
the one he met on Elm Street
with the emaciated face
and fingernails like claws
THE GAME OF BIG AND SMALL
I saw him one night between the
bushes
a storm had him down on his
knees Toño screamed
hey Toñito are you okay (I asked)
and he screamed howled bleated
a flash of lightning a scream then
another and another
relax my Toño
thunder scares me too
want a cigarette
oh yes thank you Abraham
the rain scares me so
much
the lightning bolts
shatter inside me
and we sat down together to smoke
with our feet tucked in until the rain
stopped
keeping dry
I’ve
been waiting for you
do
you want to play the game of big and small
I thought it was a pun
it depends
what it’s about
and a gleaming red deck of cards landed in
my hands
take
it and shuffle
the cards didn’t have a single crease no
muck
or grease stains on their edges
shuffle
again then gimme them
here you go
he covered his eyes with his palms
now
take one
and I
swear I picked a card he’d
never be able to see or even suspect
ready
(he said):
KING
OF SPADES
and it was the king of spades
sticking his tongue out at me
with his jockstrap on backwards
I
told you Abraham
how’d you do it Toño show me again
again
I’m
not a damn videotape
goodbye
Abraham
and he snatched the card from my hand
THE GAME OF THE GOOSE
hey Abraham want to play the game of the goose
sure thing Toño but we don’t have a
board or dice
you may not (he
said) TA-DAH
tied with a shoelace ribbon
in a little pocket of his sack he
carried the dice
along with thousands of papers notes his
pack of cards
his calendar
and he took out a small square of paper
less than an inch by an inch and opened it
unfolding each space on the board
a mappamundi
goose atlas well maze
the cosmos on the sidewalk
have
a seat Abraham
and we sat down on the ground
he held a plastic cup
half horchata
half pure alcohol
take
your dice—red—I’ve got two
if
you want to play put your money down
I’m
the fava you’re the white bean
let’s get started
you’ll
see Abraham but first
have
a ciggie
a “ciggie,” Toño
yes a ciggie
“sparked” or “snuffed”
sparked
fiat
he sucked the tobacco
like a charred beaver tail
and heaved a lungful across the board
a whirlpool spiral over all the shapes and colors
that never lifted or dispersed
I felt dizzy
maybe it was the acidity of his armpit his
clothes
the tune he ta-dahed
his fingers emerged from the cotton glove
where he primed the dice
on top of the blue the green
the white dots rubbing against each
other multiplying
leukodermic cubes leprous martians
with numbers that were words I never
managed to make out
He took one the blue
he rolled it
and I felt the space shake
I felt every turn of the die its shifting vertex
coming to rest and its call
FIVE
his fava advanced on the board
like the footsteps of geese climbing the
same tree
what
do the geese sing on top of the tree
roll Abraham
and the bean that was me (its shell was
loose)
walked to the first spot
ONE here you stay
he took a slug of his drink
my
turn
he took the green and
FOUR
with the blue
FIVE
he reached the eighteenth space
listen don’t fuck with me Toño
the dice are loaded
with one you get FOUR
and with the other FIVE
every time
shut
up and roll Abraham
THREE
I called
and advanced my marker
onetwothree
one two three
he was crazy but he wasn’t a fool
no
you don’t go back
one
two THREE
you
stay here
my
turn
from the eighteenth to the twenty-third
space the twenty-eighth
roll
Abraham
no
I won’t play anymore
NO
ASSHOLE
(he yelled)
look Toño if you’re going to be like that
let’s just drop it I’ll take my money
somewhere else
no hey Abraham
(now sweetly
with bedroom eyes)
leave
your money
fine then but lend me your dice
NO
ASSHOLE
they’re
mine
roll your own
and I rolled
TWO
I called
and onetwo one-two
no
go back one TWO
you stay here MY TURN
and forty-one
moving from spot to spot
forty-six
Abraham your shot
from the well to the inn the prison
—three turns later—
until at last
SIX
but my bean got stuck in the death-head’s
teeth
I felt something happening a porcupine
behind me the shadow of a dog
or maybe it was Toño’s belch to make night
fall
onetwothreefourfivesix
onetwothreefourfivesix
I leap over death fly through the
gate enter the garden of geese and win
NO ABRAHAM
that’s not where you go
YOU DIE
he picked up his dice his money where are you going
I WON
and I
YOU
CAN GO FUCK YOURSELF ASSHOLE
the fava and the white bean went
flying
IT DOESN’T MATTER THAT
YOU’RE ALIVE
YOU’RE ALL GONNA DIE
OF HUNGER AND COLD
the board became a square of paper
again
Toño finished his drink
stood up
and took off walking toward Río
Churubusco
down that same street
where months later
he’d be killed by a truck
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