The Mota Blues
Ivan Salinas
I. Pachucos strolled cool n all from Pachuca so says el mito de mota crossed over in zoot suits got their chivas y órale! la revolution también after working for the gringo in cananea they crack up at the news of another lynching “those gringos y ese porfirio seriously need to chill” mambo-loving hips spread seeds all over the fields a green jazz mafia of vatxs spurt from the ground and they travel west to conquer that dream carnal picking fruit in some rusty field making the big bucks for our chamacos. The gringos will tell you we only brought poison pura mala hierba satanic music like corridos and swing–sounds like a good time to me. II. What do they do with my name jailed in a square? piling up my cash & credit they’ll use to track me down, the government has documented my addiction they always know my junkie alien-ass whereabouts to the bone thanks to the pinche dispenseria every time I go in is a dollar more expensive budtender said “you know in Colorado we trim the buds differently, we ain’t got mexicans cutting out weeds” I said did you know mexicans crave the smoke of burning cities? a hundred years later wake up with mota banned by white people Wake up with mota Enjoyed by gueritos makutsin tlapeutli you’re trying to displace my subconscious gentrify my onda. Yesterday I saw a ganjapreneur walking around silver lake sippin double-espresso dreaming of another startup hierba mala nunca muere mamá Perá once said Hierba Mala fucks with vapes sweet colonized mota, that much I know III. It’s summer again & I’m solito rolling myself into a blunt to sing my mota blues in my backyard, always rebelling against the seasons. Every few months weeds will grow. smoke up my paycheck kickstart a chicanx-ownded dispensary infused tamales & cafecito verde courtesy of the UFCW time expands, time slows almost stands still… where's the bud at? I wanna conjure up monstrous extravaganzas.
Iván Salinas is an undocumented poet born in Ciudad de México. He's the Co-Editor at Drifter Zine, a publication highlighting artists of the 818 and beyond. His poetry & prose has appeared in Backlash Lit, The Acentos Review, La Raíz Magazine, & the anthology, Community Bridges: A Reflection on Civil Rights, published by DSTL Arts. Iván is the Programs Coordinator at Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center and lives in Panorama City with Madi and their dog Rocket. You can find him on Instagram @ivansali_.