Saints, The Departed, Gods, And Fetishes by Nicole Henares

Santos, Difuntos, Dieux et Fétiches, by Rorro Berjano, currently on exhibition.

Nicole Saints, The Departed, Gods, And Fetishes
 
Street scene:  Graffiti.
“SAMO for all those who are tired of civilization.”
SEEN and KODAK and MCDONALDS are in the sky.
On the ground Basquiat is holding a spray-can. 
Andy Warhol is in a yellow cab.
Except it is not New York outside. 
The sidewalks are cobblestone, 
ancient, Al-Andalus. 
 
When the full moon comes
I’ll go to Sevilla.
I’ll go to Sevilla.
With neon lightsabers
and a jedi cloak.
Skeletons will wear New York Yankees caps.
I’ll go to Sevilla.
The hip hop will be the same as corporate radio.
Urban art is now a fashion.
And the Christs and Virgins will be tattooed with FIFA, COCA-COLA.
 
When the full moon comes
I’ll go to Sevilla.
The streets will be graffiti.  
 
I’ll go to Sevilla
a virgin will be made of bricks
she will pray over a leaking AGIP oil barrel.
I’ll go to Sevilla
where coexistence is friendship
where culture is creativity
and John the Baptist stands over a Ferrari,
holding a cross.  Except he is not John the Baptist.
He has Darth Maul’s red face, and giant breast implants.
(Only the black christ child looks as we have seen.)
Fortune does not move lineage
and no one is spared from death.
 
It is not New York outside.
The sidewalks are cobblestone,
ancient, Al-Andalus.
The graffiti will say,
“SAMO for all those who are tired of civilization.”

Nicole Henares

Nicole Henares (Aurelia Lorca) is a poet, storyteller, and teacher who lives in San Francisco California.  She has her BA in English from UC Davis, her MFA in Writing and Consciousness from California Institute of Integral Studies, and is an alumna of the Voices of Our Nation Writing Workshops.  Her work has appeared throughout the small press.  She is interested in how Lorca’s duende, the duende of Andalusia and flamenco, is a cross cultural spirit.  
 http://www.aurelialorca.com