Two Poems for Monday

By Daniel A. Olivas

"Letters to Norco"

My letters to Norco

kept you sane you said.

Three years there for

selling meth.  But I

wrote to you so you

wouldn't forget me.

And you wrote back.

Beautiful and sad letters.

Strong letters.  But the

third one scared me

and then made me mad.

You told me that you

rented my letters

to your homies for a

quarter so they could

beat off to my sex-filled

longings where I told

you what my mouth could

do to your body and what

I wanted you to do to me.

But then I wasn't so mad.

And the thought of your

friends getting off from

my words made me smile.

So I made each new letter

even better, hotter than

the last.  And when you

wrote back and told me

your homies loved my

words and that you could

charge thirty-five cents

now, I laughed at my

power.

And on your release day

as we stood in the August

heat outside the tall fence,

you held me and whispered

into my hair that we should

get married as soon as we

could and have lots of babies.

And you said my letters kept

you sane.  And I said, me too,

mi amor.  Me too.

***

"Woman Gets Probation in Child Neglect Case"

They found you,

alive, yes, but

nude, caked with

dried ketchup

and jelly, lying

in a baby's tub

watching TV.

What did your

two-year-old

mind think of as

you wandered

the house alone

for almost three

weeks?  As you

peed on the floor,

scavenged for

food, drank water

from the toilet,

did you know that

your mother was

in jail, that she

didn't want to tell

the judge that she

had a daughter

who would need

care while she

served her time?

Did your mind

wander from

Sesame Street

to the dark

stillness of the

night to the

thirst you needed

to quench?

Will you remember

this time alone or

will your life be

filled with other

memories?

Your mother is

home now,

receiving only

probation instead

of the maximum

ten years.  Your

mother is home

now, to fill

your life with

new memories.

Will I read about

you again as I

drink my morning

coffee?  Will your

mother make

another headline

as my son sits

across from me

enjoying his

Pop-Tarts and

laughing at the

funnies?  Will

I have to explain

again to him

why my eyes

have filled with

tears?

["Letters to Norco" first appeared in Indiana English.  "Woman Gets Probation in Child Neglect Case" first appeared in PULSE.  Both poems are featured in the unpublished collection, Crossing the Border.]