Small Axe Books

by Miguel Angel Morales (4/7/02)

In the Baptist church as a child,
Sitting on hard wooden pews,
My butt became so sore and paralyzed
By that funny pin and needles sensation
That I had to twitch it left and right
Until it woke up.

To this day I wonder
What dreams my ass dreamt.
Did it escape the overwhelming
Boredom that knocked my head
Forward?
My body caught it
Just as my brain nearly came
Crashing down on the shelves
And hymnals, avoiding dirty
Looks of the congregation.

Did my ass go the basement in its dreams
And hide in the bathroom
From the usher-deacon-disciplinarian,
Hermano Ramón,
Who would coerce
Mischievous kids to return to their seats
By the ear,
Up the stairs
And down the aisles to their embarrassed
Families?

Where did my ass go during the
Incessant droning of the pastor’s sermon?
Maybe it hid in between
The cold metal chairs in the basement,
Deep in the dirty backrooms near the baptismal pool
Playing cards with the sleepy
Legs and feet of the other miserable children.

I wish my mind had followed
The dream-sleep walking
Of my rear-end
Instead of staring at the sky high chandeliers
And pipe organs that blared the
Boring hymns we sung in Spanish,
But were American and Protestant.

Maybe my arse went to the Pentecostal Church next door.
At least worshippers there
Could shake their booties to the Holy Ghost beat sounds
Of drums and tambourines and clapping hands—
I bet their asses stayed awake!

This is a gallery of freaky dimensions. It has nothing to do with anything, so just ignore it for awhile.

Yep, like the title says, it’s a test gallery.

There are political prisoners wrongfully incarcerated for fighting for the independence of Puerto Rico: Carlos Alberto Torres and Oscar López Rivera. ¡Que viva Puerto Rico libre!

From Big Noise Films, a 46 minute documentary about the Zapatista National Liberation Army.