Three Poems by Andres Castro

The Walrus-Faced Man
by
ANDRÈS CASTRO

He walked through Forest Park at night,
wet walrus face inviting passengers;
It was nice to have company he thought,
so kept the fly that landed on his nose,
slowly walked home with his new friend.

As a boy he had invented a sunny Sunday
and a roadside cafe near a heavenly beach.
The sweet girl that had walked toward him
had also been illusion—her face turned to
sand at his touch, his feet became jelly fish.

As he wore one mistake over another,
aged from one bad dream after another,
the walrus-faced man discovered comfort
in Nietzsche’s Thus Spake Zarathustra,
Kafka’s Metamorphosis, and Morphine.

When he saw government had become God,
clouds drifting across dark skies were dragons,
night crawl into his bedroom like a black widow
spider, he turned into a spider too, inter-
coursed with his new friend—only to be eaten.

We Kill Ourselves
 by ANDRÈS CASTRO

We kill ourselves
more than each other
in North America:

the year Abu Ghraib made
news, thirty thousand
of us self-destructed;

in this gun-thick atmosphere,
sixteen thousand
pulled a trigger;

four thousand armed
homicides spread their own
strange currency.

So how natural to arrive
with pomp and circumstance
at a War on Terror:

make up for killing ourselves
more than others in this
Trojan horse silhouette,

by liquidating as many others
as possible in its great fantastic
shadow. Strategic killing

in noble self-defense,
for freedom, for democracy
is always a safe bet;

better this corporate concoction
require our armed forces suicides
to softly lay down;

best, in this naming of parts,
Special Army Interrogator,
Alyssa Peterson, be labeled a victim

of a “non-hostile weapons discharge.”
Who needs to know she had confessed
her gross inability to stop feeling?

Dear Blue Mother
by
ANDRÈS CASTRO

Are The Terrible
Twos simplification:
stage when baby
turns and tantrums?

Maybe we—species—
thought most likely
to succeed on earth
are terribly two now:

casting off dear blue
mother, as she sheds
a tear for us—love lost
for us, just this moment.

Andrès Castro is listed in the Directory of Poets and Writers and is a PEN member. He is also the founding editor of The Teacher’s Voice, a small press poetry journal for anyone interested in education in the U.S. and abroad.

Editorial Note: (Please Read Closely Before Submitting)

Poets Basement is now on Facebook. Find us as http://www.facebook.com/poets.basement.

To submit to Poets Basement, send an e-mail to CounterPunch’s poetry editor, Marc Beaudin at counterpunchpoetry@gmail.com with your name, the titles being submitted, and your website url or e-mail address (if you’d like this to appear with your work).  Also indicate whether or not your poems have been previously published and where.  For translations, include poem in original language and documentation of granted reprint/translation rights.  Attach up to 5 poems and a short bio, written in 3rd person, as a single Word Document. Expect a response within two months (occasionally longer during periods of heavy submissions). Submissions not following the guidelines may or may not receive a response.

Poems accepted for online publication will be considered for possible inclusion of an upcoming print anthology.

For more details, tips and suggestions, visit http://crowvoice.com/poets-basement. Thanks!

Editorial Note: (Please Read Closely Before Submitting) Poets Basement is now on Facebook. Find us ashttp://www.facebook.com/poets.basement. To submit to Poets Basement, send an e-mail to CounterPunch’s poetry editor, Marc Beaudin at counterpunchpoetry@gmail.com with your name, the titles being submitted, and your website url or e-mail address (if you’d like this to appear with your work). Also indicate whether or not your poems have been previously published and where. For translations, include poem in original language and documentation of granted reprint/translation rights. Attach up to 5 poems and a short bio, written in 3rd person, as a single Word Document. Expect a response within two months (occasionally longer during periods of heavy submissions). Submissions not following the guidelines may or may not receive a response. Poems accepted for online publication will be considered for possible inclusion of an upcoming print anthology. For more details, tips and links to past installments, visit http://crowvoice.com/poets-basement. Thanks!