Category Archives: Mexico
Kick the Song
Fishing boat, Puerto Nuevo, Baja California Norte, México
Kick the song ahead of you,
kick it into the mist and spume,
even though you are shaking,
and three women spinning yarn
are laughing at you.
Kick the song of ruin,
kick it over the boat
where the grey-headed vagrant
slips into sleep
under the spell of opioids.
Kick the song out of the way,
so that no one ever hears it again.
Do not be afraid.
Kick.
Kick.
Kick.
Poem © 2017 and photo © 2013 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Sunday’s Whirligig #128
More Poetry Pantry #370 at Poets United
More Sunday’s Whirligig #128
More Poetry Pantry #370 at Poets United
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Making Memories
Photo illustration for a Guadalajara Reporter story in 2016, Guadalajara, Jalisco, México
Someone made some memories,
Made them long ago,
Using a film camera,
And this is what I know:
The women in the photo
Do not smile or blink.
Their bland looks betray nothing—
One wonders what they think.
Each woman holds a doggie,
The doggies are quite still.
Were the little beasties drugged
And held against their will?
And what about the ribbons
The women do not wear?
Are they content with hair spray
To batten down their hair?
A hundred questions pop up
About this photograph;
Some of them are sobering,
And some just make me laugh.
Photo © 2016 and poem © 2017 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Midweek Motif at Poets United: “Memories”
One-Eyed Crow
Caged bird for sale, Mercado San Juan de Dios, Guadalajara, Jalisco, México
A one-eyed crow
glares at me from atop
the roadside birch.
If it had hands,
it would be waving me on,
disgusted by my clothes and hair,
which are caked with mud.
But crows have no hands,
and they cannot wave,
nor can they carry sabers
to cut down their foes.
If I could capture that crow,
I’d put it in a cage
lined with newspapers
and sell it—cheap—
at Saturday’s flea market.
Instead, I am retreating
from its mocking tongue.
Poem and photo © 2017 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Sunday’s Whirligig #126
More Poetry Pantry #368 at Poets United
More Sunday’s Whirligig #126
More Poetry Pantry #368 at Poets United
Sanctuary
A seaside sanctuary, Puerto Nuevo, Baja California Norte, México
I will build a sanctuary,
using nothing but a piece of string
a beam, and a post.
It may seem inadequate,
or a mean affair,
but it will not shake
during times of earthquake,
nor will it leave me poor,
for in it my soul will be reborn
as old, familiar prayers trigger
freshets of new meaning
into my everyday life.
It will carry me through
flood and fire, locust and hail,
or any other plague that comes.
This is what a sanctuary is for,
and this is why I pick this place
beside the sea.
Poem and photo © 2017 by Magical Mystical Teacher
Bliss
A heart drawn in the sand by lovers, Puerto Nuevo, Baja California Norte, México
I hate broccoli—
loathe the stuff.
But it is bliss
to kick off my sandals
and draw on the beach
with my toes.
It is rapture
to wear a different wig each day
and keep people guessing:
“Who is that woman?”
And when I purse my lips
to kiss you? O what delight!
I don’t even worry about the dents
I got in my car last night!
Poem and photo © 2017 by Magical Mystical Teacher
NOTE TO THE READER: Some elements of this poem are autobiographical, but I am NOT a hater of broccoli! The declaration of antipathy toward that particular vegetable just happened to work with this poem.
More Sunday’s Whirligig #121
More Poetry Pantry #363 at Poets United
NOTE TO THE READER: Some elements of this poem are autobiographical, but I am NOT a hater of broccoli! The declaration of antipathy toward that particular vegetable just happened to work with this poem.
More Sunday’s Whirligig #121
More Poetry Pantry #363 at Poets United
When I was a girl
A mural on a house in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, México
When I was a girl
I wanted to be someone’s wife,
washing his dirty clothes,
then hanging them out to dry
on leafless bamboo poles.
But the day I saw a blackbird
in the backyard bath,
its eyes aflame with fire,
I felt within my skin a stirring
to make paintings
envied by both monk and nun.
Now masked, with brush in hand,
I steal out every night
to splash the darkened city walls
with light, and then more light.
Poem and photo © 2017 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Sunday’s Whirligig #120
More Midweek Motif at Poets United: “Masks”
A mask on the wall
Mask on the bathroom wall of artist Anado McLauchlin, La Cieneguita, Guanajuato, México
A mask on the wall of the bath
Represents such unholy wrath
That bathers do quake,
And shiver and shake,
While viewing the mask in the bath.
Limerick and photo © 2017 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Ruby Tuesday Too
More Midweek Motif at Poets United: “Masks”
At the festival
A dog explores the weeds and grasses near Lake Chapala, Jalisco, Mexico
at the festival
she wore only poems
that she had listened to before…
before the wine
before the fruit
before the shades of night
came without warning
to spirit her away
from where she walked
with her favorite dog
the two of them together
clad only
in poems
Poem and photo © 2017 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Sunday’s Whirligig #119
More Poetry Pantry #361 at Poets United
More Sunday’s Whirligig #119
More Poetry Pantry #361 at Poets United
The middle child
The middle child,
feeling lost and upset,
goes for treatment
one day a week.
In the waiting room,
her older brother
chants nursery rhymes
and tells stories
in a vain attempt
to comfort her.
“Wait till you see the lunches
they serve at school next week,”
he says.
“Seven kinds of ice cream!”
But the disconsolate middle child
cares nothing for ice cream lunches.
All she wants is to rise up
out of her wheelchair
and walk.
Poem and photo © 2017 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Sunday’s Whirligig #117
More Poetry Pantry #359 at Poets United
More Sunday’s Whirligig #117
More Poetry Pantry #359 at Poets United
Playing her part
Sunset, Puerto Nuevo, Baja California Norte, México
She quiets her mind and opens her arms,
Embracing the ocean and stars;
Even the planets draw near as she breathes
And blesses both Venus and Mars.
Yoga sustains her day in and day out,
A peace settles over her soul;
She’s playing her part, although it is small,
Her part in the glorious whole.
Poem © 2017 and photo © 2014 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Midweek Motif at Poets United: “Yoga”
