I
I am Omar
  the crazy gypsy
          nimble footed
              and carefree

              I write poems
                on walls
                   that crumble
                          and fall

I talk to shadows
  that sleep
       and go away
           crying

I meet fearless girls
  who tell me
      their troubles
          my loneliness
             bottled up in their
               tummy

II

I am Omar
  the crazy gypsy
    I write songs
       to my dead mother
            hurl stones
                at fat policemen
                     and walk on sea weed
                          in my dreams

I walk away from despair
    like a horse walks away
       from his master
            end up in jail
                eating powdered eggs
                     for breakfast

III
My spine shakes
      to the songs
            of women

I am heartless and lonely
     and I whistle a tune
         out of one of my dreams

       where the world
             babbles out loud
                 and Mexican hat check girls
                      do the Salinas Shuffle
                           a dance composed
                              by me on one
                                  of my nightmares
                                      and sold
                                  for a bottle
                                     of tequila.

IV

I am Omar
   the crazy gypsy
         I waltz through avenues
                     of roses
           to the song
                of Mariachis

V

I am Omar
             the Mexican gypsy
I speak of love
     as something
               whimsical and aloof
as something
            naked and cruel
I speak of death
             as something inhabiting
the sea
             awkward and removed
I speak of hate
             as something
nibbling my ear