interrogante

los colores delatan a la luz,
el futuro le toma el pelo al presente y el pasado bosteza

el corazón amaga mas no se decide:
teme un paro cardiaco
o que se le vaya la mano con el vacío, con el rocío

afónicos:
los sentimientos, los insectos merodean la superficie,
se estrellan (kamikazes)
contra el autorretrato, contra el cristal de la ventana

y la mente no halla qué hacer con el alma, su plastilina,
mata el tiempo con su hueso favorito,
con la duda, la quinta pata del gato
no la quinta de mahler ni la quinta de beethoven

mientras que el hielo quiere romperse, hacerse añicos:
le tiene sin cuidado el agua, el frío, la profundidad,
el hecho de que algunos no saben hablar,
no saben nadar

c. a. campos, 2012

reconnaissance

when you’re out walking through the milky way,
careful with the black holes, the pitfalls,
with the footprints of the bigfoot we’ve been searching,
waiting for. careful with its yawn, the fog it leaves behind,
with the landmines whenever you’re out walking the dog,
nursing your fall, nursing your call.
careful with the undiscovered planets & the signs of life
when you’re trying to relocate the heart,
to audition, auction your plot of real estate, dark matter.
wave & smile & get moving if you’re spotted:
blood is the weakness of the universe
& here, on earth, it’s what makes the green grass grow.
beware of the stars, the pyres, booby traps
when sunbathing or going for a closer look.
they’re territorial entities.

c. a. campos, 2012.

stars

since time immemorial, some thing has had to entertain itself by setting fires all over the universe.

all that loneliness, all that solitude, all that power & no thing to share it with, to show it to.

all that void, all that darkness: no wonder wander it became an arsonist, a planter of fires.

fires which, not falling on fallow ground, have grown to become stars, teenage sensations.

c. a. campos, 2012

astronomy (astrology)

since pluto's demotion, life on earth hasn't been the same...

c. a. campos, 2012

zurrapa de café

salud, saludo;
ajo, carajo;
diantre, diablo

en el diccionario encontramos
el significado de las palabras,
¿en dónde encontramos
el de las personas?

c. a. campos, 2012

temporary arrangements

i can keep a job,
pay attention to you once, twice a week,
do the groceries
& keep the heater going,
the silence hovering over what you say,
what’s in play

i can close my eyes & count to ten,
giving you the chance to run away,
to seize the day without a scene,
without needing to be nice, to be mean

i can recycle & make a yard sale
out of useless knowledge, private moments,
air the place out
& make room for your bag of tricks,
your collection of shoes,
assortment of moods

i can make you less insecure,
less dependent on love, on foreign hope,
become more willing
to do more with less on your tour,
on your shopping experience

i can help you compare & contrast,
weigh the pros & cons of your heart,
of my laundry list,
make an educated guess
about which goods haven’t expired

i can read me from the comfort of my chair
the miranda rights,
help you study for the future,
share with you what i’ve found out
about attitude & solitude,
about honesty & privacy

c. a. campos, 2012

glitch

a stretch to call it a battle…

i stare at the window
& question marks stand at attention,
& answers, with no punctuation marks of their own,
at a loss for words
shrug their shoulders, scratch their heads

i stare at natural, far off light,
& at trees, shadows, things alive,
& in dismay exclamation marks look at each other,
say to themselves: what’s the point?
all this dreaming, all this screaming
is making us lose our voice,
all it’s doing is giving us a headache—
the hell with grammar,
with calling attention to ourselves

i stare with false mirrors & get lost in thought,
in a series of ellipses, of caesuras,
of alternate takes not originally part of the LP

instead of, initially, going for the remote control,
of staring at the tv screen & not minding the glitch,
the ditch or the fill in the blanks

you have to be stupid enough
to give things a value,
give them the significance they don’t possess

you don’t go to see a musician,
you go to hear him play,
go to hear him browse & bruise himself

it’s important to have someone in your vicinity
to hate, foster wallace recommends,
does it count when that someone is you yourself?

on the highway you see the world in its hot new ride
pass you by,
like state troopers & ambulances
the rules, regulations of traffic don’t apply to it:
don’t know why, don’t know whether to wave
or give it your middle finger

i stare with scarce, exhausted resources
& i barter with myself,
a stretch to call it a battle, self-improvement

c. a. campos, 2012