"edrik" <edrik@gateway.net> 

Mao Suits

He sits alone guarding
a statue of Buddha
behind a rusted fence,
looking from left to right,
making sure no pictures
are taken as he sits on
his chair, legs crossed,
wearing a Mao suit.

His hair is white and gray
like modern Beijing snow,
ash and ice brushed in
with wrinkles on his skin, 
his hands, his fingers,
but his suit, creased and
pressed, is immaculate.

Younger people are
dressed in blue jeans
and white Addidas
surrounding him with
cameras hanging from
their necks, watching
intently for a flash, 
he notes, those clothes,
nothing Mao would
ever have approved.

Everything has changed
fast, he says, he knows
his presence is to preserve
the sacred, what little is left.

The altar of Buddha,
the giant gold statue 
that towers behind him,
with a head the size
of twelve men, 
eyes made of rubies,
teeth made of diamonds, 
a sword pointed for battle, 
eight hundred years old

however, pictures
destroy the brilliance.

So he sits alone 
and he guards
the statue not knowing
he is Buddha and the statue
is guarding his image.

Villa Turabo

On that night,
at two in the morning,
my father walked in.
Drunk.
Today, at twenty years old,
I see an image.
Fuzzy, fragmented.
My mother being pushed
into her room. A scream.
My father closing
the door behind her.
He sees me.
I must have been really small.
My father’s waist is my eye-level.
I look up and
see his yellow eyes.
His index finger is raised
to his lips.
Shshshs. Go back to sleep.
I backpedal into my room.
My brother asleep in his bed. 
I stand there.
Papi sits down.
It’s that sometimes
we have problems, hijo.
Everything is ok, you know
I love her.
He picks me up
and puts me in bed.
Straining to hear 
through the cold cement wall.
My skills as sponge developed.
I begin to notice every sound.
Every image and
shadow on the wall.
However,
Never judging--
not a monster nor ghost nor angel.
But standing neutral.
Being in the middle
of the most powerful
judge and criminal
of a boys life,
his father.
Only today I wonder
if my mother was ever beaten.