New Poetry by Ricardo Moran: “ABBA-1975” and “On the Street”

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TAG EVERY WALL / image by Amalie Flynn

ABBA-1975

Abba’s lyrics, like water
shot from La Bufadora,
mingle with volcanic steam
from metallic pots of corn.

And the scrape on my knee
from chasing the seagulls
bleeds, but does not hurt.

On this Sunday, the ocean breeze slips
in gossip between vendor stalls
as young men in speedos walk past.
Tables of silver bracelets tap my eyes
and ABBA’s Spanish melody
carries on my tongue
before any English syllable
ever arrived.  Before the summer ended
when it tore me
from the sands of Ensenada
to a desert north of the border,
to a land with tongues
unfamiliar and stiff.

And now when I fall
chasing my shadow, my ABBA
lyrics cannot permeate
foreign soil.  Cannot stop the pain.

 

On the Street

Run naked through the streets
and shout, “Make love to me!”

Tag every wall in a turf war
with quotes from the palatero,
from the child who yearns for love,
from the gay son who hopes his father
will welcome him,
this time.

With your sharp and fast tongue, mesmerize
passersby as they get caught in the gunfire
of stanzas and sonnets,
popping the air.

Bellow on the street corner
of how love abandoned you,
how your life is empty,
how you aborted your dreams.
And every day it rips into you
of every opportunity you threw away.

I want that on the wall.
I want all the pain and hurt
to get out of bed, to grab that bullhorn
and run naked through the streets.

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Ricardo Moran

Ricardo Moran’s writing has been published or is forthcoming in Beatific Magazine, Cider Press Review, DASH Literary Journal, Perceptions Magazine, Potomac Review, The Seattle Star, Willa Cather Review, and in the Nebraska Writers Guild, San Diego Writers, Ink, and Wingless Dreamer anthologies. He has attended the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators conference, the Willa Cather Foundation Spring conference, and San Diego Writers, Ink workshops. Ricardo serves on the board of San Diego Writers Ink. Currently a copywriter, Ricardo is the former director of nonprofit education programs and appeared in television interviews for the American Red Cross. In his spare time, he enjoys traveling and learning how to say “good morning” in as many languages as possible.

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