the cruelest month

dedicated to Jesús Guzmán

April winds rage in with a renegade posse of dust
weather's bad boys intent on stealing a body's air
and one cruel April Jesus was killed on Easter Monday
day after resurrection Sunday
he fell from Jacob's Ladder
it was the sudden stop that killed him
undoubtedly ¡Ay cabron! frozen on his lips when he hit the ground
a tiny blood red rose quivering alone in the wind blasted dirt
Jesus killed like a angel fallen from the heavens
declared dead on the scene
mad scientists shocked him until his heart resumed its beat
like all fallen angels determined to return to lost paradise
declared dead at the scene on Easter Monday
declared dead in ICU on Tuesday afternoon
then on the third day they took away his tubes and wires
and his heart beat for another hour
he fought Miss Death until they declared him dead all over again
no resurrection except in the memories of children he taught to be poets
in the minds of workers who had crossed the borders from there to here
he crossed over from this life to the next one
neither from here nor from over there
the mesas crashed onto the freeway like waves
the spring night bled teardrops like falling stars
because he's still cheated of air
cheated of words
cheated of life
the world cheated of him and his corazon too soon
Jesus was killed on Easter Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday
his heart tan fuerte it took 3 times to kill him
his death scene punctuated by the street’s beat and the lullabies of the bereft
now the world is so cold & so lonely in April
when the winds carry the spirits of dead vatos to remind us
just how cruel a month can really be

This piece is intended as spoken word. In the poem, Jesus is pronounced Jeezuz