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C O R R E D O R


No way back Turnstyles clatter and clunk pedestrians leaving the U.S. via Twin Gates spun percussion clank clutter clink twisting your Feet across a painted line on concrete p e r c e i v e d between your ears that the one true border is LA N G U A G E five hundred thousand Pairs of shoes walk everyday beyond the better angel lanes of your smoking traffic through this place where one world Ends starts
and Another Stops begins
at the LAST Mission Bell
& iron border plaque LIMITE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS MEXICANOS BORDER OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A n d so now
you have crossed over to walk
between these long walls of public art touristic information stinking telefonos customs aduanos & something
Mexican mural struggling
to be born autochthonous in a brain on two Mother tongues .

Go up to little green Men with Guns waiting under their sunscreen tent shade for custom inspection in front of this painted wall .

They ignore the passing crowd until one catches their eye and then
Anything to declare ?
Welcome to Mexico. Please push the button red-light check your bag or green-light not waved on through the crack between this world and the
n e x t don't stop now hurry hurry hurry no one reads anything here on a path devised to divide and conquer before reaching History corner we must all reap the dust of explorers Indians missions rancheros tourists workers & Beggars who have crawled in between their metal bars bloody stumps pleading they only need enough to get back home
to Guadalajara or wherever but n o
y o u
rush past tossing coins at the ghost of that missionary who walked all the way up from
Mexico City with ulcers on his legs to conquer California for Spain
J u n i p e r o S e r r a thank God
that's all over
one last turnstyle or the other bending you around
and around
unto release on public street at the Island of Tacos
beyond the
Sea of Taxis who call
you to ride ride
Ride .

(this poem was included in the 2010 San Diego poetry annual)

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Not enough open space, not enough closets for Hickory Street plans

No way back Turnstyles clatter and clunk pedestrians leaving the U.S. via Twin Gates spun percussion clank clutter clink twisting your Feet across a painted line on concrete p e r c e i v e d between your ears that the one true border is LA N G U A G E five hundred thousand Pairs of shoes walk everyday beyond the better angel lanes of your smoking traffic through this place where one world Ends starts
and Another Stops begins
at the LAST Mission Bell
& iron border plaque LIMITE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS MEXICANOS BORDER OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A n d so now
you have crossed over to walk
between these long walls of public art touristic information stinking telefonos customs aduanos & something
Mexican mural struggling
to be born autochthonous in a brain on two Mother tongues .

Go up to little green Men with Guns waiting under their sunscreen tent shade for custom inspection in front of this painted wall .

They ignore the passing crowd until one catches their eye and then
Anything to declare ?
Welcome to Mexico. Please push the button red-light check your bag or green-light not waved on through the crack between this world and the
n e x t don't stop now hurry hurry hurry no one reads anything here on a path devised to divide and conquer before reaching History corner we must all reap the dust of explorers Indians missions rancheros tourists workers & Beggars who have crawled in between their metal bars bloody stumps pleading they only need enough to get back home
to Guadalajara or wherever but n o
y o u
rush past tossing coins at the ghost of that missionary who walked all the way up from
Mexico City with ulcers on his legs to conquer California for Spain
J u n i p e r o S e r r a thank God
that's all over
one last turnstyle or the other bending you around
and around
unto release on public street at the Island of Tacos
beyond the
Sea of Taxis who call
you to ride ride
Ride .

(this poem was included in the 2010 San Diego poetry annual)

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4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
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