Las Cruces

Various precious stones known for their
magical properties are at this very moment
resting at the bottom of Monterey Bay
where they are caressed by sting rays,
leopard sharks, lamprey eels, & pilot whales
making a pit stop on their way to Vera Cruz
via the Panama Canal

Vera Cruz is “true cross”
Santa Cruz is “holy cross”

The Panama Canal is & always has been
a political statement & bad medicine

Even the patron saint of hard knocks
looked the other way

The Knights Templar started it all.
Jesus didn’t die on the cross but high-
tailed it out of town, got married, & on the
down-low was the progenitor of the
Merovingian kings

their dreadlocks appropriated by
Rastafarians whom I thought would have
known better than to load the Holy Grail
with ganja on a reggae weekend
in Las Cruces