borderline

 
on the mexican sidewalks:
pudenda and beer and crones
       almed with cones

for sport, toss nickels
to chicos off bridges
they'll snatch them
    or suffer
  their bones

       cigarettes (horseshit)
and switchblades for sale
chess sets-- black onyx/soapstone
                               always the pull

of the strange, strange man
with lurid sorties to sell         (she's swell)

cigarettes, cigarettes, cigarettes!

(pontiff, i care) beware
there's always good tail
yo, mato y picadors        bend        
bend         send         lend         ears
                                       corrida!

look on me!         soon to be!         frail!
 and aware

unmuscled, soft-
heeling through shoals.

it's carnivale!
 haloes and parrots all
shuck-beat
the worn path from hovel to woods

candles burn lifeless, hymns
 sting the mass. i sing
  quarterflash: harden
                         my heart

and, i'm in ecstasy
       clinging to mud

hurricanes slung through my veins