Cinquains on Mexico I

As I
peered at the stone
of the Aztec seasons
in the museum, Moctezuma
walked by.

Shall I
Find a jade bud
beneath the Great River?
Huehuecoyotl, old mischief god,
howled.

Twilight
hurricanes that
will trapeze to halbreds
on pendulums of porphyry
and lead.

Cinquains on Mexico II

Blue-black
Mestizo feet
like Jesus' sandaled feet.
Would I let Him in my salon
for tea?

Love birds
smiled by, hand in
hand, pock-marked morenos;
Anglos were sad at the brothel door
nearby.

Water-
lilies walking,
picked in Xochimilco
where we know the floating flowers
don't walk!

Cinquains on Mexico III

I slept
where Juarez slept
well; Maximilian like
me in Queretaro spent a
bad night.

Thanks to
Santa Ana,
windowless streets open
onto patios of Shangri-La
turquoise.

Peace is
conjured by the
Kabalistic morphemes
from Mexican alchemy: Quien
sabe?

Copyright © 1997-2001 by Francis C. Spataro