abandoned from
an ancient land,
marx
mr. x, malcolm
mexico, mejica
conflict/con,flix
chaos and the tao
che guevara and mao
rebelling from pious
mountaintops,
but the landscape fades.
manifestos and manuals-
the revolution
locked in books.
martyrs and rebels
as(s) socialist idols.
politics as a marx
-ist,ist,ism,ism
bible.
“but only through conflict do things move
forward,”
mentions
a sociology prof.
in soc. 100.
black
shirt with
red
star, clenched
fist.
red
work and mass
work.
and u 2 can b
a commun(e)
-ist and a re
-volution(eerie).
but what(ever)
happened 2 b
-ing a knee old
thing.
02.11.03.
che-
revolution
and t-shirts.
manuals for
guerrilla warfare
and mao’s
little red book.
(a third world)
revolution
(for middle cl-
ass
students to wear)
and t-shirts.
who’s that guy
on your shirt? his beard
‘s cool. what he’d do?
freed cuba.
from whom?
american imperialism.
but how about all the cubans?
where were they?
oh, the people were all
there, but history needs
heroes, so some details
it chooses to forget.
02.07.03.
displaced and disenfranchised
che heard whispers
floating south,
so he rode north from argentina into mexico,
where castro whispers about cuba.
but algiers and vietnam
murmured as well-
some things
about a strange cold war
until che heads towards bolivia.
all of latin america whispered
(whispers) revolution.
but the c.i.a. went in
with silencers to quiet down the south,
slicing off che’s hands and feet,
so that they could march in easily into chile
without having to worry about
revolution whispering.
bourgeois child
student of marx
the people’s rebellion
guerrilla warfare
abandoned children
exporting revolution
martyr in bolivia
marti’s memory
myth of the overman
superman
the new man
guy on your t-shirt
cries for freedom
my apologies che.
truth seeker, freedom fighter, make self laugh with idea of words, used to dream of being like che, or some kind of castro, but now, most desire to be free of all ideology, and not have to hide behind political identities, ‘cause what does anything matter as long as it smells like human, but always have to include own personal quirks and preferences, making things such a horrible mess, thus stalin was a dictator, and castro, republicans, and democrats are dictators all as well, and there’s nothing, no one can say to change my mind.
power lies
portrait
che’s silent cry
quick exchange with high school student
shopping for the revolution
everyone wants to be revolting
understanding the left
apparent scars of bitterness
this world is not
of the lonely lost dark empty
Copyright © 2005 by Jose L. Frausto. The book author retains sole copyright to his contributions to this book.
Cover image by Angelica F.
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