Gerardo Pacheco

Canto y Lloro

I am a Rio Grande espiritu
lost and trapped en el agua 
canto y lloro solo y triste

                I am el gallo pinto 
                I am ready to live or die 
                sharp metal talons 
                are tied to my feet 

                              I am a nopal viejo
                              with roots that reach 
                              down into my father’s corpse 

                                           my bones have been tied 
                                           with alambre de puas

                concertina wire coils
                around my corazon 

soy un pajaro rojo plastered 
with chiles tamulados y un puño 
de tierra roja de panteon de Huhi

                              I am el padre, el hijo 
                              y el espiritu santo trapped 
                              inside of a corn husk 
 
                I am pomogranade seeds 
                spread over chiles rellenos
 
                              I am thunder that strikes 
                              El diablo en la nopalera 
 
soy culebra vieja that slitters 
in between dreams

                                          I am the wind;

Gerardo Pacheco Matus is a Mayan Native, and recipient of the Joseph Henry Jackson Award, and fellowships from Bread Loaf Writers' Conference and Macondo. Pacheco’s writings have appeared and are forthcoming from the Haight Ashbury Literary Journal, West Branch Wired, The Cortland Review, Nashville Review, Pilgrimage Magazine, and Tin House Magazine, amongst others. 

 

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