Paz Talks of Being Followed
Paz talks of being followed around stores
Vancouver
island sand never dirties him in any real sense
moreno by any another name is just as teeming with nuance
Motorboats rest
fisher folk pass
enough rum & coke with lime
palapas taste like mopeds
riding a family of four
down Avenida Ruedina Medina
in the salty buoyancy of motor oil
after dip sunset swim
man sleeps hugging abandoned pyramid
there over past ice cream colored houses
long enclosed porches
some don’t think he’s Mexican or First Nations
what Paz is is something approaching heatstroke
Paz wants more for his daughter Cristina
she wants to be Ixchel of the Moon and monsoons
powerfully mother enough to make death skip a page
Paz goes to work for vacation
Canada Oaxaca Santa Fe
A maker of little things
harmless knick knack stuff for sale
carved painted pointedly charmless
torsos toast in the lateday sun
watercolors don’t get a blues right
tourists disappear into rows of sun gods plastered to full lip smiles
the ingrown funnybone of “art” for pensioners
the feeling of being pulled along
pulled along
