eagle mother
  for my mother
my mustache grows darker now
my beard invades my face now
n I get those funny tingles when I look at girl's legs now
mother eyes me when I go by
    eagle warrior I become now
   sky acrobat
   sun dancer like my mother
so my eagle mother opens her wings
for me to flap my way out of her shell
into the outside cold and then
  get a job
  go to school
  be a man
but
I don't want to
why push me out like that
n you say
   because I love you
n I don't understand
although I do
so I gather my things from the nest
flutter my wings one last time n go out
   to unknown cliffs
   unknown blues
how I wish you could join me mom
cover the rain from my eyes
    you need them open
you say
how I wish you could protect me
in these times
when gray buildings block the sun
n people walk with tunnel vision
how I wish you could carry me high
high on your wing back
to the place of warmth
n cool breeze that damps the hair
    you have your own wings now
how I wish you could stay w/ me
like those cold sick nights I cough granite
you circle my sleep
perched on my bedside
no tempest can uproot you from my side
     I'm your mother
how I wish you could defend me
with your obsidian claws
crush all the hunters and their dogs
free me from my cage
    look at your claws son
    they are bigger than mine now


Agustín Palacios
5/8/2001
p4p



manzanilla poetry