Poets in San Francisco
(A legend about Anais Nin and Lawrence Ferlinghetti)
It feels good to write poems in Sa Francisco
But it would be better if someone
wanted to read listen and talk about poems
in San Francisco.
There is a place where poets meet and love each other
Once I thought San Francisco
but when I got there their coffeehouses
turned into dress stores
I think the place where poets meet
lies in an inner space between
the ribs the lungs and the hurting loneliness.
A poet fills his bag with rose petals
and empties it on the head
of another poet.
Her hair is full of petals
There love poems rhymed and metered bloom
and in that movement of raining flowers
is the place I want to be.
Victor Hernandez Cruz, Nina Serrano, Roberto Vargas 1973
Heart Songs by Nina Serrano
Hi Partner,
ReplyDeleteHere’s poem I liked by Nina Serrano that we didn’t share in section, called International Woman’s Day (1975):
“CHI/cha cha cha
CHI/ cha cha cha”
Then men from out offices assault us,
It’s an attack.
They come beating on tin cans,
“CHI/cha cha cha
CHI/ cha cha cha”
One carries a guitar,
two share a handpainted sign
“Down with machismo”
it says.
They chant
“Down with machismo.”
The guitar plays “Guantanamera.”
We are being serenaded as we lean over banisters
leaving typewriters, dictionaries and telephones abandoned.
They speak in praise of women
of women as comrades,
They present us with a bouquet of flowers.
We cheer
They chant, “Down with machismo.”
We agree.
They beat out a rhythm to send it to its grave.
They are gone.
““CHI/cha cha cha”
trails behind
with the perfume of the flowers.
We hear them attack our sisters in the other buildings.
Our typewriters click again,
Our thoughts click,
We are working,
We are smiling