KLR abstracts art and poetry

Juarez Issues - slam version
by Chevalterre Nabil via K. L. R. abstracts
completed May 18, 2010

tunes borrowed, not including lyrics:
"Siempre en mi Mente" by Juan Gabriel
and "Streets Have no Name" by U2

in Spanglish

---------------------------------------------

{sung JG style}
You are always on my mind
Don't you know that you
are one of a kind
Where would I be today
had i not stepped forward onto
onto that bridge that leads to Cd. Juarez

Que voy hacer? No se
No quiero pensar en nada, nada
los reportajes de
miles de muertes y muertos
y trato de no escuchar.
{end song}

The garita gates are higher
no more street vendors
a platoon secures la frontera
no more pedestrians
nadie juega en el park
quiet traffic
... to quiet
No more street payasos
A truck filled with helmetted-armored policias
patrols the mall

Careful with your U. S. billetes
saca pesos from the auto-cajero
empty halls
nadie walks alone
pero si tu quieres
grab your shades
and running shoes

Desayuno at Dega'
'huevos fronterizos'
a new dish I ordered
in revueltos a la mexicana,
con tocino, champiñones, y refritos
I wait for my platillo

al pan tostado
I spread jalea
deliciosa
not so fake
like the U. S. kind
decious, I said...
con my cafe

Silverware comes after

Glasses of plastico
...como no?
No vaya ser que un loco agarre y!!

Pasan dos security guards?
No. Son policias.

Mr. Barraza comes
and shares his story,
"... en el Chobis
no one eats comfortably.
Not with la poli
y federales right next to you."

... Saluda Carlos,
an engineer,
y con una sonrisa pregunta:
"Que hacen en la ciudad mas peligrosa del mundo?"

He still smiles...
Though his son was killed
transporting merchandise
estilo fayuca
Nothing illegal...
decent work unappreciated.
Well, the engineer still has his daughter.

Walking down
avenida Lopez-Mateos
Red, Green, and Blue barriers
from the avenue,
into each residential street.

Pero en fin.
Al llegar,
I ring the doorbell.
Irma, la dentista, opens
looking cautiously from side to side
removing the pad lock...

Post no business hours
or get charged a quota
Make appointments
only by phone.

Juarez air don't smell so bad.
For the moment.
Residential blocks
no longer so ornate
or lively...

Filled with graffiti

Contstruction workers
actually wearing
reflective vests!

Wait.
... What?

This can't be the old neighborhood.
The corner cantina cerrada.
The corner arcade cerrado.
El abarrotes "Los Gavilanes"
now sells used appliances on the sidewalk.

Visiting Mama Nena
she plays her old consola
Toda su casa arreglada
warm and loving.
I take multitudes de photos.

Hard to smile
on...
Details of golden,
brassy memoreis
que quedan...

{sung U2 style}
... one of mis vidas
left behind.

I wanna tear down the walls
that hold us inside...
... I wanna pluck out
the sicarious en Juarez
because the streets still have names.

A-ja

Oh, yes. The streets still have names...

The traffic de autos moves forward
y porque no the rest of us?
{song ends}

Finally,
over the other half of el puente
LIBRE!

the vendors are seen...
y me compro un rosary...
con San Judas Tadeo
yellow and green
he wears.

Le rezo
que se termine
el terror de los coyotes
y los mendigos secarios.