Max Lemuz: IID – A model

                Flying Lessons, by Mary Hatch, 1979, oil on canvas, 40” x 36”

 

 

IID – A model

Adjacent to the thirsty vagrant pop-ups
is the old irrigation building,
lost to expansion
the green paint fades to wood,
and they would use it if not for
the termites that got to it
first. Barbs strewn on the ground
can’t keep a niño out
but the heat does the job
better than teachers that taught
how to take a test
or the way to sit properly and listen.
They never learned the rules of engagement
in topics of rational discourse
or that the bighorn sheep lived right
outside past the lemon tree.
I once heard a story
about Miguel, who entered
the green building at night. The adults
would say it was haunted,
that the Llorona calls could be heard
over the metronomic drip
of a standing water puddle. Miguel
was deaf so he didn’t care.
He found an old pen there, and
when questioned about it, said
angels dropped it
on his head so he could write
a story that would resonate with
the vagrants, but he didn’t mean
the ones adjacent to the haunted building
but anyone willing to read
of people that pop-up like a children’s book
with at least a quarter
of the imagination.

_______________
Max Lemuz

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