Pachuco has brought to the cantina
his glorified version of a pellet gun,
a sawn-off muzzle-loading blunderbuss
able to shoot todas tipos las cosas.
He tells the barkeep he will use it
to keep a scavenging gallina out
of his novia's casa de pollo.
Juanito pales and stares at his
huevos, wondering if
el jefe del barrio knows.
Then the sound of a muffled discharge,
Juanito feels the stings of a dozen wasps,
and gasps, small metal pieces lodging
in his skin. Raul darkens,
drops wrinkled bills on the vinyl
cloth, murmurs, "Vamanos,"
and leaves quickly, but Juanito,
picking a BB from his earlobe,
approaches Pachuco at the brass rail,
and puts the projectile on the bar,
mumbling, "Necessita tengar mas cuidado,"
to which el jefe, his eyes narrowing,
replies, "Y tu tambien."
Raul ha desaparecido, the sidewalk empty save
Pachuco's cadre de guerreros. Juanito ambles down
the paseo, followed, but once he passes
el estacion de policia, he is left alone
to pick shrapnel from his wounds.
His sternum is burning; probing
a cut, he extracts a medallion
of La Virgen. He turns it over in
wonder, revealing la marca 925,
significa plata.
Juanito crosses to the pawn shop,
as La Virgen will bring dinero for
tomorrow. Inside the door,
he considers his situation;
it might be mejor to spend
his last saved pesos on
a matching silver chain.
BIO
John Lambremont, Sr. is a Pushcart Prize-nominated poet who lives with his wife, their Jack Russell terrier runt, and their fat gray tabby cat in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He has a B.A. in English-Creative Writing and a J.D. from Louisiana State University, where he studied writing under William 'Kit' Hathaway, Warren Eyster, and Jim Bennett, and his major focus was poetry. During the last year, John's work has been published or accepted for future publication in Boston Literary Magazine, A Hudson View (2009 Pushcart nomination), Flutter Poetry Journal, Bear Creek Haiku, Breadcrumb Sins, Pattaya Poetry Review, Jerry Jazz Musician, Shenom Magazine, The Fib Review, and Lilliput Review. His collected volume of retrospective poems, 'Whiskey, Whimsy, & Rhymes', is available on Amazon.com and Google Books. John enjoys modern jazz, writing country songs, and adult baseball.