Five Poems by Steven Alvarez
This week in the PEN Poetry Series, guest editor Brian Blanchfield features five poems by Steven Alvarez. About Alvarez’s work, Blanchfield writes: “Like a wholly unanticipated amalgam of Edward Dorn and Ernesto Cardenal updated to embody a ‘Neo Baroque Xicano experimentalism,’ the work of Steven Alvarez is a standout in any context. It is all at once narrative, fragmentary, constructivist (unsynthesized), phantasmic, excessive, brash, documentary, and wide awake. Its fluid bilingualism is one of several strategies that achieve a layered stereo effect. Three of the following five poems are in his forthcoming book The Codex Mojaodicus, which also includes “G l o b a l,” a long poem that (to give you an idea of his boundless scope and capability) stages a sort of tour that Walt Disney gives The Rev. Billy Graham, a tour that periodically irrupts not only into Spanish but also into the theme park’s underlying theme: foul and exploitative colonialism. It would be among the few poems I’d collect as the most vital of the century so far. Alvarez is from Southern Arizona, and has a feel for one-storey Sonoran life in urban Tucson, as it looks up at the daily maneuvers the military air base conducts, as it nonetheless engages in the kind of place-claiming, place-making that my friend the writer and activist Roberto Bedoya elucidates as ‘rasquachismo.'”
Carchitexturas
G L Y P H*
image: prophetik Chaley Chastitellez
& that brownish skin of history
limned in all imageswords
nouns & verbs
context: this AZtlán moment pulsating
caged temporal & spatial configurations
nadie cd ever imagine dead imagine
a huevo—indeed—Tucson
written in Codex Moja’odicus never happened /
never each time
time cycles recycled cycles
e(s)pic: & all Chaley sees yepa—
neck resting on a yellowed whitewall spare tire
behind his head reading solito in that parked beater
eseventydos Datsun he rolled / what folks in AZtlán
called “birth control” for C’s lackluster destiny
for “eseshual” conquests / five colors of sun
rusted away no bumpers / screwdriver in ignition
no passenger window
C browsing through his magazines
w/ images of high heeled bikini-clad rucas
posing w/ glittery love machines
w/ wire wheels / one C had his eye
on violet flaked azure pearl lilac ghosts
choptopped tricked-out troka
dancing pickup bed
shaved taillights y todo /
ah dreams / sweet dreams / relaxing
in his parked beater Datsun just off Calle Brazos
Panadería Estrella’s lot / frowning down his mag
& up C’s eyes fixed on bluest sky he’d already known
bluest azure pearl bluer than any ma-cheeng
the blues of ol AyZee
these skies nothing more than postAZtlán sky grand
& yet tinted bluely differently
from gilded styrofoam towers & hollow pyramids
plastic bodies & concrete cacti
& suddenly prophetic C sees in all he sees
in all his Pochovisions
funneled to this quasimomenteeteeto
güey up high—that spot—¿Royal Chicano Air Force fighter jet?
¡güey! ¿what the shit is that?:
some damned green Mextica eagle w/ owl’s eyes order screeching
¡ATENCIÓN! ¡ATENCIÓN! ¡ATENCIÓN!
diving from somewhere down from that tainted Aridzona sky
& only C sees this flapping madly plumedsnake
& wind so much wind mis jefes—
for since no one truly looks up in AZ (esp. bc doing so cd burn one’s eyes blind)
& yes look to this: how clouds emanate from this animal
& wind unveils 11 on the fog machine & surrounds—descends or ascends he can’t tell—
& frankincense scents
soften into darkened foggy neonglows curtaining him
& as his gaze presses on looking further into this eaglesnake’s
owl’s eyes C sits up no longer in that pick-up’s bed
wind none heat some / wind in his swirling cabeza no doubt
¿& his lowrider mag? snails w/ candypaint shells
sliming trails of salsa verde / ¡de veras!
now a barrio forest
& on his ankle ocelot skin & bells
no matter / & on moving on
untouched thick brush / ponderosa pine / sitka spruce
as in Alaska again
& up & walking on
tugging up his ethnocentric misogynistic chicansmo loincloth
& pushing on & on thru veils of cloudfog & on
he encounters her that ruca in ‘is magazine
cheenga kay yes
& Chaley peering thru
smoke (cough) fir needles singeing
her bronzely freckled skin / Xochitl
obsidian earplugs
posed on saplings ferns & ocelot pelts
eyes inaccessible
legs closed
heels high
her hair the ocean
& C behind some alders
& she on her petate of saplings & furs
arching her back
magueyes walling her
& her knees bend her legs open & C sees
glisten . . .
& well—pos—taco de ojo—he stiffer than times
of global credit crises / boom ready to bust one cd guess
& his thoughts flash bulbs of black enlightening him yes
& right where he thinks Tucson was
there’s her & whatever happens . . . no / ni modo
& just then her curls leap & she sways & jerks
convulsively & again that green birdsnake
screeches
¡ATENCIÓN!
¡ATENCIÓN!
¡ATENCIÓN!
¡ATENCIÓN!
& wacha C / mark how it soars & its claws
firmly gripping eyesockets
of one nice skull lit like dark stone*
& C thinks to himself stigmata
¡joder!
& now
here
Tucson
¿& la ruca?
limp headless
yes manches some serious Zetas booshit
& up & up flies that birdsnake w/ owl’s eyes & her skull in its talons
UP & UP to that winedark violet
smoking volcán
shit: C: that: Puebla.
Es la verdad. ¡Great storms of luz!
¡Sweet baby Quetzalcoatl!
& C shuts tight his eyes terrorized
sways & damp stardust tumbles
& wind whips him
smoke gone
as he hears shouts
of bass from some eseventytres Monte Carlo at this stoplight
next to his Datsun Chaley finds himself returned to . . .
or he never left quizás didn’t he can’t sey . . .
but truchas there his lowrider mag
& as he rises from that bed & marvels redcandyapple
flake / w/ pearl ghostpatterns calaveras
chromegleam of wirewheel rims
godly gold spinners
yes de veras / Chaley calls out to these carnales
over Ice Cube explaining why that day was a good day
not having to use his A-K & such Chaley
sez to these gentlemen YO: ¿y’all see that plumed snake flying?
he shouts this three times bc bass drowns his voice
& finally that pelón passenger volumes down their song
& Chaley asks again abt flying feathered serpents screaming attention
& these two vatos gesture signs w/ their fingers
concoctions of knuckle & wrist twists accenting mano
acrobatics & communicating to Chaley
they prefer no verbal interaction & as they speed away
BOOM b a s s BOOM BOOM b a s s
BOOM b a s s BOOM BOOM b a s s
Chaley glimpses airbrushed trunk mural
soaring Quetzalcoatl pinching C’s severed head in his talons
y verla fea headless heeled ruca corpse walled in maguey
& abuelo Popocatépetl crying for his children . . .
újule
pero ain’t no sin to take off yr head & baile in yr bones
& C scratches his cabeza
asks if & why
Datsuns divinations in Tucson ache
yr citizens, denizens
0:02fats well settled
0:05five days of the final status
0:09september the
0:10slept right there in front of ralph sat-sun seven fifteen if that pink
0:21it’s not about making you looking for
0:23and report was not included
0:26and out of the no-fly list
0:28citizens
0:29scene is not taking away their madonna
0:33stuff like that
0:34trying to do what you are not allowed to come
0:38firing off my lifestyle nigeria
0:41ha
0:42historians
0:43for
0:44these are citizens of the united states championship
0:49which is issued from former democratic fight hackers are children before you
0:55think you have to have a very appealing
0:59situated humans who harvest of food for the best friend people in the world is
1:02your partners
1:12one farmer look at this
1:15we used to all harshly
1:17now we got rent
1:20the secretary of labor looked at the migrant plight and said
1:24i think that the greatness is what i have called it
1:28excluded american
1:31people
1:32who cried out
1:35workers and their children and their lives
1:39credit hopeful
1:40some assistance
1:42and uh… whom the quite fascinating
1:45shape
1:47the president of the american farm bureau federation the largest farmers
1:51organizations as
1:52i think that uh…
1:54most those social workers would agree that it’s better for man to be employed
1:58even if his capacity of salt shows
2:02through one of those
2:05combo we took the position
2:08that is far better to have problems leaves
2:12ferrara practically on adorable
2:14finding some
2:16throwing some productive work
2:18for at least a few days here
2:21measures are not part of it
2:24an engineer jersey and new york private
2:28who’s in nineteen sixty-eight grapes of wrath
2:30that begins at the mexican border in california
2:33an engine oregon and washington
2:36competitive the story of man and woman and children
2:40work a hundred and thirty three days of the year
2:43and the fabric nine hundred dollars a year
2:50playwright truck
2:53they follow the sun
2:55the migrants
2:57workers in the sweatshops of the soil
2:59the harvest of change
3:15the census reports exclusive
3:19it has to do with the men women and children who harvest their crops in this
3:22country of ours the best red nation on earth
3:26is are the forgotten people
3:27the under protected the undereducated the undertow the underfoot
3:33we present this report
got
0:29god
0:37while take institutes
0:41which is fine but
0:43it goes beyond that
0:45because beyond sense that
0:47you have a political & social consciousness
0:50that may be other american-style
0:53you more
0:55also
0:56that comes yr connection to yr
0:59brutal cultural heritage
1:00and on cultivated conquests
1:03expanded to catch a mexican because you know anything abt it
1:07when he perceived to be valuable
1:09and something that shd be
1:12best conquests yes
1:14deductions hernan good conquest yes
1:17passed on from generation to generation
1:23minutes has been delayed
1:28it was a really good summary online stores
1:40no
1:41explicitly yr great conqueror
1:42it means an american a mexican descent born & raised in this country
1:46how do i have no idea people that
1:49considerable skylights satisfactory you stated in nineteen eighty
1:53ended up buying so much for the mexican american community in terms of
1:57that social consciousness of political awareness & the cultivation of the
2:01cultural roots
2:02that conquistador conquistador
2:03i mean it’s nice to working in a pioneering
2:13was among the w/ the deployment we have talked
2:16was a mom
2:18& is the end of it
2:20homeless
2:22fight
2:26encircling mexico but they were
2:31status our estimates that some people
2:34they’re not water
2:37answer that explains
2:39seagulls
2:42went my
2:44friendships
2:46french fries
2:48deputy simple abt hernan malinshay
2:50it’s you
2:52seeking tortillas once
2:54ensuring depends
2:56you want to know that i lived there
3:05an understanding
3:08come from
3:18in the back of his work
3:20what did you notice that we never did
3:26zuma zuma
3:29promises combo
3:31one of my resume of
3:34was the relationship
3:35came as a person who was
3:37warranty in the conquest w/ their parents their of mexican descent
3:42male definition of
3:44zuma it’s it’s a cultural thing it’s uh…
3:47it’s a different world span
3:50the electoral
4:15will salute g send yr letters
4:19and as soon as the one that you can tell
4:24wholesale
4:25for children
4:27and has sd that we survived
4:31marina where a service to meeting on
Pancho EL PRIMERO / to La Marcaida / Sinaloa
think I smell you
taste yr eyes
dream yr white hands
groping a map of Tetaroba
open my eyes / see yrs still closed
kiss yr lids w/ thoughts untied
yet only the deepness inside me knows—
missing the smoothness of yr warm / white neck
bids me to forget me in you more
fingers opening as roses & sudden
images descending
nations breathing
winds rise / hear yr breath
you breathe: tight (& writhe)
exhale / & my stomach shakes
paint any monstrosities you want / jellybean
poets all the same
words no action
¿ow to speak?
wish w/ pages of boulders
yes Pancho EL PRIMERO / to La Marcaida / owned by the State
decidedly chose to write
machines speak loudly / definitively
call me call me call me Pancho ordered himself to follow
his desiring destined bones
toward the nude whose back [margin: La Malinche]
faced his front
entered her / vigorously pumped / dispatched
thoroughly / woke her / tho considering
nothing else
she woke / turned her glance—
seemingly expressed a kiss
Pancho cd write / wrote / read
sometimes instead
cloudpiles
hear train choo chaos
sun shines / clouds run / the blue blue blue
kind can’t stand divided
[MS letter holdings of Pancho Chastitellez estate / 19 Jun 2000]
Chaley to Pancho:
see Olson: recognizing that writing & geometry are always entwined / connected
shapes of letters reflect cultural notions of spatiality
Euclidian space in our letters we inherit mostly from Greece by way of Rome
don’t write boustrophedon / nor hieroglyphically
y liverty y susto for algunos
el conquistador es la figura que domina la historia de los años iniciales del contacto hispano-indígena/ y el conflicto
dominante es el desequilibrio de la Antigua sociedad prehispánica sometida a un NUEVO ESTADO de cosass—
PHYSICAL ENJOYMENT Tío /
¡Ay! reason Chastiteyes:
both reality & process how to operate
yes
nothin I cd be
trope
creature from second stage of—
no more than s-some creature crowing
over own triumph over incoherence
heard this from una ruca cryin / cryin / cryin:
que ya te crees tanto . . . tú eres de Amurika / ya sabes hablar ingles y todo eso
think abt Quetzalcoatl
my true conquistador
is that it helps me
take my mind
off things by
doin something w/ me
sometimes my sweet conquistador
promises that we will do something
& then we don’t do it
my gentle conquistador makes fun of me
in ways that I don’t like
I wish my darling conquistador wuz different
O BUT WHEN I AM . . .
when I am w/ my adequate conquistador
I feel disappointed
& when I am w/ my antigovernment conquistador
I feel ignored
& when I am w/ my reformed conquistador
I feel bored
& when I am w/ my symbolic conquistador
I feel mad
& I feel that I can’t trust my habitual conquistador
w/ secrets b/c I’m afraid my feigning conquistador
wd tell my parent/guardian
& when my abnormal conquistador
gives me advice
my soft Conquistador makes me feel
kind of stupid & ashamed
I wish my parliamentary conquistador
asked me more abt what I think
I wish my necessary conquistador
knew me better
I wish my loathsome conquistador
spent more time
w/ me
2008 / 5th sun / our present
& so Tío Pancho & Chaley
penetrated Manhatitlán deep
sloppy July humidity tangling
them until ‘Times Esquare’
as Tío used to sey
tho he’d never been
& so his Sinaloan destiny linked
w/ web to this eastern place & so
Chaley Chastitellez
wd dump his Tío’s
ashes wherever he
thought best here in Times Esquare
Chaley looked down at his Tío’s new shell / then sd
pero oye listen oye
& ¡ look ! Tío — LA LUZ / sd Chaley to his Tío
whom he toted in black plastic sack
cinched at top &
. . . how long & hidden
Tío in his dreams followed clinking cloud rolling
curtains / gas green neon
billowing / crowd furrowed /
strange brows—
SURE: mighty torrent / sure as its might / crowd /
& calmate Tío—hush yr thunder sd Chaley clearly
speaking his Tío
—shun what’s common & mean
6,982,488 lights flashing fury thoughtbulbs & another
6,982,488 & noise
& his Tío from beyond: para el tiempo to boot & these
lines:
COSMOS black blanket star speckled
nebulae / constellations of
Suns
¡ LEND YR EARS ! thought Chaley to the folks
exiting Planet Hollywood &
to some beautiful fifty-foot tall pouty-lipped
white young man or maybe woman O Tío
away alone along on forty-two Chaley walking
solo west w/ Tío’s ashes in this sack / plastic /
watchale / walking Tío’s ashes north / past
Swatch
hugged sidewise O / servicio hear Tío
here time’s money Tío / Chaley sd to his uncle’s
ashes / sack cinched
time y movement / in Ethiopia time metaphors / sd
Chaley to his
uncle’s ashes / of movement don’t exist WELL
buckle no arrow
buckle no fleeting
y ¡ SENSE !
& Chaley Chastitellez reckoned here en Nueva Yor lights / lights & folks
who
ask C for money
& ask sey / b the b / ¿ wha’sin thet bag boss ?
& / ¿ canna git some ?
& C: no / es mi tío en esta bolsa
¡ BASTA !
y know forever sus primos no tienen su papa not now nor forever Chaley
& the body just disappears
becomes dirt dirt dirt
well his ashes anyway / never to have visited
Times Esquare w/ blood
mixed w/ his flesh
O TÍO / dead / dead / dead / first blind as a bat
in political matters
racist / como Ezra Pound
racist Tío / fearful Tío / hatred / hardhearted /
contra women / Jews / homosexuals
Puerto Ricans — evil Tío of different worlds really
refracted bigtime ¿& he wanted Times Esquare?
no manches:
he’d die from selfhatred selfpity selfdread
all these lights Chaley looked up
always electric day here in this place
Chaley needed a dark place & he
eyed a green flowerpot
sweat in his eyes pot
over yonder & sd to the box
there are two things in this dirty dirty world
up he looked at groups of students chaperoned
by workingclass folk from Wax Museum / J-LO
second: visible thru the window: two things: brute facts
& social facts
Tío: brute facts exist w/o man
Chaley still speaking to cinched bag:
but objex in relation to time: after the lantern
yard loss of God
absence of meaning & Chaley speaking faster
/ rambling:
raveloe: space w/o time . . .
repetition instead
cyclical time
HALLO QUETZALCOATL
I order ye universe / TIMES SQUARE
¡ zsTOP !
& nothing / nothing
look Tío: here he spoke to the ashes in the box:
shells.
_______________________________________________
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