How the Mayans Invented Television

Staggering up out of the swamp
drunk on Pacific gas
I map the flutter of every false eyelash
between here & Hollywood             My heart is
arguably a two-way mirror I only recognize because
I had seen the photograph on page 124
& looming on the horizon like Mothra
or Monster Zero stomping with thunderous intent
the sunlight tapping on the pavement like a blind man’s cane
probably has something to do with dealing in a different language
maybe gothic Elizabethan hip-hop
translated into dyslexic Church Latin since
Ophelia still drifts past here, unseen, her sad tattoo & pedicure
3:45 pm, back of Taqueria Vallarta, knowing every step
including the slide & pivot & exactly where that might take you
The subsequent interrogation of shadows just to get a bead on
what happens next
Que te parece, Cholita?
check to see how much is left
& leaning against the redolent haze I readjusted my
bloodshot RayBans & hustled down careening streets
making it back just in time to catch
the Late Late Show