"FACINGFACES 2002 - 04" SELECTED POETRY

MARIA GALLARDO

Naranja dulce limón partido,
Maria yo te conocía,
oh yes I knew you.

I knew you when - when you and I
used to go to different schools together.

Yes...yo te conocía - Maria.

I knew you when - when my suenos
were the color of a salsa picante
And castañedas clicked in my head
like crickets dressed like mariachis
in hot summer nights.

Yo te conocía - Maria

I knew you Maria - when el cucuyo,
el mentado chamuco hid
underneath my bed and scratched the
floor with his diablo fingernails.
and you protected me while I hid
underneath the blankets - las cobijas
and ate pinole like
a holy Eucharist one last time.

Yo te conocía, Maria,

Oh yes I knew you
when you laid with the gachopin -
the false feathered serpent - Cortes
and freed me from
the oppression of Tonatiuh and Tezcatlipoca
gods of worlds I never knew

Yo te conocía - Maria.

When you freed me forever
from the altares that held my beating corazón
as I waited for a resurrection that never came.
And I condemned you Malinche?

I knew you Maria - yo te conocía.

When el mundo was coming to an end
with the rain fire of Quiauntonatium
y la noche...the night escurriría
you stood ready with your doble cananas.
Your bandoleers and your woman’s scorn.
You and Adelita- and beat a chingasos
El gachopin’s butt - his culo.

Yo te conocía Maria...I knew you when.

When you waited at the kitchen table
en la cocina for me to return,
from barrio wars that were not mine
in prayer - La Bamba blaring
through the night and I came home
loco por la mota y el caballo
the elixir of my oppressive Azteca Gods

Yo te conocía...Maria

I knew you Maria and watched you
when you shackled yourself to the hot cocina
stove le estufa and made tortillas de amore
that I ate with mantequilla.
And you worn that same old apron,
stained with the past memorias
of meals prepared with love for me.

Yo te conocía...

I knew you when Maria - And even
when the sun promised never to return.
Still you said to me, close your eyes,
and you filled them with pan dulce.
And you hugged me singing,
Naraja dulce limon partido
dame un abrazo que yo te pido.

I knew you Maria - Gallardo Yo te conocía.

And I never thanked you, gave you las gracias
But las palabras failed me. Pero siempre yo fui
muy pendejo - mea culpa.


Rafael Melendez
MEXICO
copyright 2002