Houston Poem

Near the Rose of Sharon
Baptist Church
In ol’ downtown Houston
On Saulner Avenue
Is a 100 year old
600 dollar a month
Army Brat
Former world teacher
Now Spanish/English translator
And desk clerk
At the college
Bernie howls into his beer
Every night
And sprays the scattering little roaches
And at 54 years old
Is making plans to conquer the world
Via Law School
And the Bar exam
Hi translates
Kidnappings and murders
“Can’t give this to a weak-kneed
19-year old Canadian girl
Even though she might be able to
Mentally and physically
Do the job
She can’t take the
Gory bit of
Humanity
I have to confront
Every day”
He goes on tirades
In –your- face tirades
But he lays down and laughs at the world
And calls his tirades what they are
Tio comes in and laughs too
In his grey underwear that he has had on for 3 days
He rambles about something
We can’t understand
just ever so often
punctuated by
“That woman in Tulsa said something
about Jesus Christ!”
His ramblings are as innocuous
As the gentle Houston wind
Drifting around the tenements
And the open-porched rocking chairs
Savoring a chat
Carefree porches
The 55 year old man
Did it right
He had gone to Washington DC and lived with the homeless for a year
And
The man on the radio speaks
The symphony plays
And the music goes into the upbeat
And he screams
And his life melts
And glows into the
Gorge
“I am a simple mirror
They scream and fuss “
And the day
Blows a windy
“This is the mess we’re in”
And we meet a waitress named Jessica
And feel our pulses shimmy
With blood
Feet planted in Texas