Issue 15 • Fall 2005 • Poetry

Two

Pablo Miguel Martínez

If Heaven is paying attention,
it will keep you near my bed,
lest I run out
into the rain-licked street,
in a bathrobe -- if I have
the presence of mind --
clinically naked if not,
my hair matted, my thick
body evoking clumps
of lake reeds, drying
in the August heat.
Late-night news channels
will replay the devastation,
responsibly digitized.

The diabetic neighbor
will read about this
in the morning paper,
as he eats
his sensible breakfast:
oatmeal, bland,
and wheat toast, dry.
He will periscope
his balding head, and say,
"They're dangerous, I told
you so," accompanied
by the tango rhythm
of his wife's Tsk.
Tsk, tsk.

Pablo Miguel Martínez's poetry has appeared in numerous journals and newspapers, including Americas Review, BorderSenses, The Comstock Review, La Voz de Esperanza, San Antonio Express-News, and QP: queer poetry. In 2001, he was the director of the San Antonio Inter-American Bookfair & Literary Festival and co-director of the Latina Letters Conference at St. Mary's University. In 2003, Martínez was a recipient of the Alfredo Cisneros Del Moral literary prize.

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