Monday February 26, 2007
POETRY
Luis
H. Valadez
©
Luis H. Valadez
|
Monday 26-Feb-2007 11:29
|
RETORT
MAGAZINE ISSN 1445-7164 |
Stabbed
in the Neck
Luis
Valadez (24) died on July 11th, 2007, hours before his 25th
birthday, in what at press time investigators are ruling
a homicide. He was shot seven times in the back and then
stabbed once in the neck while painting over the LKN tag
on his sixty-six year old mother’s garage, according
to the victim’s mother.
According
to a note, he had just returned to Chicago Heights after
“realiz[ing] that the world they made is for them
and that the hope they instilled in [him] must have served
to make [his] inevitable disillusionment and decline sufficient
enough for [him] to lose [his] capacity for moral understanding.”
The note goes on, “They must have wanted me to walk
into that new mall on 29th street or one of the incense
and bullshit shops or one of the stupid-ass burrito places
on the hill and unload on some motherfuckers. This would
be widely reported in the media as illegal immigrant violence
or the act of violent criminal from an unsavory background
and geography. Inevitably, this would propel legislation
to further encapsulate and isolate their world from our
likes for anything more than labor.” These statements,
along with some illusions to what detective Rich Vega referred
to “sexual terrorism that the victim may have experienced,”
and some apologies to family members and friends are all
that is being disclosed by the Chicago Heights Police Department
at this moment. The presence of this note has lead some
to suspect that Valadez’s murder was in fact an act
of suicide but Vega points out, “It’s impossible
to shoot yourself in back once let alone seven times, but
we will investigate the possibility that the victim may
have stabbed himself in the neck.”
He
leaves behind his eight year old dog Jake, his turtles Lucky
and Luis, siblings René, Ponch, Elsa, his mother
and estranged father (who could not be reached for comment).
Taurus
in the Sixth Cusp
I
used to listen to a song about a man called to work.
And
how it made his functions harder.
He
couldn’t articulate his need to relax.
And
the weights on his legs forced him to scream.
I
believed he screamed in a rather mediocre and enchanting
way.
And
the way his throat moved caused me to react.
About
the potential that my life could reflect his past.
And
I want to share this song with you, but.
I
can’t get the day off work.
Section
5
I
put cream cheese on your bagel
then tomatoes
I
gave it to
your disgusted look
your picking off slices with neat finger tips
you
looked at me
the way i would stare the person
who shot my dog
Could
you put some more cream cheese on this?
i
didn’t say anything
to the green plastic plate
i passively thought to it while i spread
Nine
years old:
George Sera
put a thirty-five to me
my mother was in the other room
He would have done us both
If not for the lust of my fear
|
Monday 26-Feb-2007 11:29
|
RETORT
MAGAZINE ISSN 1445-7164 |
Luis
H. Valadez
©
Luis H. Valadez
www.myspace.com/luishvaladez
My
work has been published in Bombay Gin 31, Sliding Uteri,
26 Magazine, Summer Stock, Transmission, Columbia Poetry
Review, Antennae, Tendrel, and forthcoming in the University
of Miami’s Wet: A Journal of Proper Bathing.
I
received my BA from Columbia College Chicago where I worked
as an editor for Slipstream and Asphalt and was an editorial
assistant for Arielle Greenberg’s Notes from Underground:
Essays on American Youth Subculture (forthcoming from Allyn
and Bacon). I received my MFA from Naropa University where
I was Co-Editor-in-Chief for Bombay Gin 32. As a performer,
poet, and musician I have shared the stage with Anne Waldman,
Saul Williams, Jello Biafra, Thurston Moore, Against Me,
and Strangers Die Everyday.
