POEM FOR CHRISTOPHER SALAS, 1964-1997(?)
http://www.maverickmagazine.com/articles/376/1/POEM-FOR-CHRISTOPHER-SALAS-1964-1997/Page1.html
Albino Carrillo
Albino Carrillo is an Associate Professor of Poetry and Creative Writing in the English Department of the University of Dayton. His one book is IN THE CITY OF SMOKING MIRRORS, published by the University of Arizona Press. Over the past 21 years, his work has appeared in national literary journals such as The Americas Review, Puerto Del Sol, The Antioch Review, Blue Mesa Review, and Columbia.
By Albino Carrillo
Published on 11/14/2006
From the dream world I crossed
into yours to get a haircut,
but it wasn't that simple.
The first time I saw you was after
I had argued with the barber about
the length of my sideburns
into yours to get a haircut,
but it wasn't that simple.
The first time I saw you was after
I had argued with the barber about
the length of my sideburns
From the dream world I crossed
into yours to get a haircut,
but it wasn't that simple.
The first time I saw you was after
I had argued with the barber about
the length of my sideburns
and if such luxuries were permitted in hell.
Then you caught my eye: there you were,
sweeping cut hair of all sorts
into a black plastic dust-bin
with a handsome straw broom;
Your legs were reduced to stumps
and there was a small bump in the floor
where the hair was burnt to ash.
Otherwise, you were young and alive,
wearing a pale-blue sweater vest,
your hair neat as the barber's son--
I was embarrassed to see you there
seemingly happy in your task
while I had nothing else to do but
leave, hoping to sweat in the cool
fall air of my real world, later,
when the sun cleared the trees.
Copyright © Albino Carrillo, 2006. All Rights Reserved.
into yours to get a haircut,
but it wasn't that simple.
The first time I saw you was after
I had argued with the barber about
the length of my sideburns
and if such luxuries were permitted in hell.
Then you caught my eye: there you were,
sweeping cut hair of all sorts
into a black plastic dust-bin
with a handsome straw broom;
Your legs were reduced to stumps
and there was a small bump in the floor
where the hair was burnt to ash.
Otherwise, you were young and alive,
wearing a pale-blue sweater vest,
your hair neat as the barber's son--
I was embarrassed to see you there
seemingly happy in your task
while I had nothing else to do but
leave, hoping to sweat in the cool
fall air of my real world, later,
when the sun cleared the trees.
Copyright © Albino Carrillo, 2006. All Rights Reserved.