Chicano Love Poem at the End of Winter
for JS


Two nites ago, they jacked our ride,
And at 4 am, the spider bite has injected this leg of mine
With a poison unbeknownst to a vato like me.
Beside our bed, the 10 is a knuckle throbbing, and
at such a little hour, with the love of hood cats agonizing
over aloneness, and the malosos who stay in the shithole
behind us, all fucking twisted and unruly,
you take your rightful position inside of me.
I’ve asked for this all these years.
The ink on my back reveals me for what I truly am.
Gnarled, the roots that are appendages and thumbs
Fixate on the hard parts of me that try to get away.
Three, four times, before we’re finally done, and
what your mouth has done to my neck—

Wood has shattered wind.
Inaudibly, your seeds seep out of me.
I’ve allowed myself to slip you a grip of whispers and 13 rosario beads.