A Nameless Man is Caught in a Drug Raid in Tijuana

Late night
in a Tijuana bingo hall
a nameless man is caught in a drug raid

Coincidentally
a drug ballad plays at the bar next door
as masked men shout expletives
searching for traffickers and the sort

Under a table
her hands in two fists
the woman with the winning card
curses the hour

No more abstractions
in front of the tube
the morning paper
world news
Not simply a cup of coffee

And safe in his guarded home
Calderón rolls over and farts
dreaming of smoking a cigarette
at a baptism

While the nameless man goes limp
in a corner of the room
swearing off shrimp tamales and any Sinaloan place
Cartel leaders come from here, he thinks

I’d rather eat at home
and have my wife in my arms at night
The only thing a dying man gets
is attention

A. Onofre