Joseph K.’s Grievance

(Por Benito Martinez, quien, en el Septiembre de 1999, fué echado, bruscamente, entre las páginas fantasticas de Lo Prueba, un novela por el escritor aleman Franz Kafka.)

I never broke the law. What are my rights?

I should not have asked them, just like a fool:

“I only wish to know why I was stopped....”

Por Dios! They came at me like a pit bull!

I should not have asked them just like a fool....

My heart beat fast the closer they got near.

Por Dios! They came at me, those damned pit bulls!

Badges and guns make Anglos gods out here.

Oh man! My heart beat fast when they got near.

Sucio! But not to a judge and jury.

Es Verdad! A badge and they’re gods out here.

You ever feel like someone’s out to get you?

Sucio! Just can’t tell a judge and jury:

“I work in radio, not in las drogas!”

You ever feel like someone’s out to get you?

What if I had been black for kin to bury,

And my life had been radio, not drogas?

It could have been that way. Think I don’t know?

Thank God I wasn’t black for kin to bury.

Just Christ to see, and no real “proof” to show.

It could have been much worse. Think we don’t know?

And all because I asked why I was stopped....

Did Christ see? Is there just my word to show?

I never broke the law. What are my rights?

variation on a theme by e. e. cummings

(After: since feelings are first)

since two blinding feelings are first

who must pay any attention

to the semantics of things

will never wholly kiss one:

wholly willed a wise one

while Spring drips red for him or her in the world

my tears approve,

and lashes are a truer fate

than kisses

lady i swear by all worms. Don’t laugh

--the worst gesture of my brain is greater than

your eye’s narrow vision which says

we are neither lovers nor siblings for each other; then

cry, fleeing away from my world mourning arms

for life’s not a meaning

and death i think is no worthwhile glossary search

___________________________________________________________________________

LE JEU SADIQUE, DES DIEUX QUI RÉGNENT LE MONDE

Here the parent aged, lonely, forgotten,

                bedridden, dying, dead.

Here the slighted friend fatally fallen.

Here the gunshot victim, mugged, precious red ebbing,

                knowing the blistering blow to wife and daughter,

                feeling the death creep.

Here the wife meditating the marriage moribund,

                dead in the car mangled in the intersection.

Here the faithful, ever ignored employee,

                crushed as the plane crashed.

Here the unemployed desperado,

                gun in hand at a bank.

Here the patronized, unknown writer, persistence a felled, worn tree,

                persevering hope splinters and shattered crystal,

ending the final chapter with a barbiturates and alcohol period.

                                        There

The child remembering, regretting, reflecting, picking up the phone.

                                        There

The friend regretting, writing the letter of reconciliation.

                                        There

The police with paramedics, surrounding the body with their efficient thoughts.

                                        There

The husband at the door with a gift and a three words rehearsal.

                                        There

The boss planning the promotion, the raise, the award.

                                         There

Personnel calling the applicant, wondering why there’s no answer.

                                         There

The last editor in his office, reading the novel, screaming, “Genius!”

________________________________________________________________________

THE WICKED LIVE HAPPILY BY VIRTUE OF EVIL

Humanity

Needs more and Heaven less from thee.

(from Paul Laurence Dunbar’s “Religion”)

millions ask God for nothing

and get billions

i asked God for a desperate nickel

and he mercifully

gave me a penny

millions flip the bird at Him

and get blessed

Him flipped the bird at me

and i got cursed

God the compassionate says

don’t undergo judgment

I want you to repent...

...God never lifted a finger

to help this repentant

stay repentant

of course the fault

was is will always be mine

with a compassionate god like God

who the hell

needs a sadistic bastard like Satan?