The four directions of my border blues

I miss
Tacuache,
Homer,
Johnson,
Crow
the four directions
of my blues
the four musics
of my valley
the guitarist
the drummer
the friend
geniuses all
beheaded by whites
loved by Mexicans
Elvira and her sister, too
The tula fog
the cries
for the mother
The music was our music
we knew we would never see each other again
never gave up the blues
never surrendered to the night of our long separation
Tacuache bellowing,
hair down to his hips,
I want pussah, pussah
Homer roaring in laughter
I am in the back seat remembering us all
Where's Cinthia?
She was my outcast, my future woman
I would love and love always
eternity had her names, ours
Johnson was a madman
with a Gibson strapped across his shoulder
Crow the music organism
Tacuache spirit armed with spirit to pound away our fears
Homer the friend we would never give up
Then we left each other
alone
We left each other
and ever since
music is
incomplete
unfinished tenderness...

human status for all

human status for all:

birds,

oceans,

mountains,

uranium, 

rivers,

deserts,

worms,

jaguares,

bears,

fish,

whales,

wind,

soil,

waters,

migrants,

hummingbirds,

butterflies,

snakes,

insects,

bacteria,

germs,

shells,

mammals,

amphibians,

bipeds,

quadripeds,

all animals,

insects,

dogs,

coyotes,

wolves,

plants,

cats...

Animal status for all:

humans,

whites,

blacks,

browns,

yellows,

greens,

teas, republicans, democrats,

communists,

anarchists,

our languages

transmen, transwomen, queers, straights, curved,

the border patrol

the police

the homeless,

the rich,

the technocrats,

the evil bankers,

the corporativists...

On earth day,

all power to the animal people,

the web of life,

All power to the natural world without us...

poem & photograph: arnoldogarcía
Detail of mural on MacArthur Boulevard (near Mills College) in Oakland, California.