Poem - 187 Reasons Mexicanos Can't Cross the Border

[Beringia]

187 Reasons Mexicanos Can’t Cross The Border (remix)
by Juan Felipe Herrera

- Abutebaris modo subjunctivo denuo

Because Lou Dobbs has been misusing the subjunctive again
Because our suitcases are made with biodegradeable maguey fibers
Because we still resemble La Malinche
Because multiplication is our favorite sport
Because we’ll dig a tunnel to Seattle
Because Mexico needs us to keep the peso from sinking
Because the Berlin Wall is on the way through Veracruz
Because we just learned we are Huichol
Because someone made our IDs out of corn
Because our border thirst is insatiable
Because we’re on peyote and Coca-Cola & Benamex
Because it’s Indian land stolen from our mothers
Because we’re too emotional when it comes to our mothers
Because we’ve been doing it for over five hundred years already
Because it’s too easy to say “I am from here”
Because Latin American petrochemical juice flows first
Because what would we do in El Norte
Because Nahuatl, Mayan & Chicano will spread to Canada
Because Zedillo & Salinas & Fox are still on vacation
Because the World Bank needs our Abuelita’s account
Because the CIA trains better with brown targets

[Beringia]

1. #2

Because our accent is unable to hide U.S. colonialism
Because what will the Hispanik MBAs do
Because our voice resembles La Llorona’s
Because we are still voting
Because the North is really South
Because we can read about it in an ethnic prison
Because Frida beat us to it
Because U.S. & European Corporations would rather visit us first
Because environmental U.S. industrial pollution suits our color
Because of a new form of Overnight Mayan Anarchy
Because there are enough farmworkers in California already
Because we’re meant to usher a postmodern gloom into Mexico
Because Nabisco, Exxon, & Union Carbide gave us Mal de Ojo
Because every nacho chip can morph into a Mexican Wrestler
Because it’s better to be rootless, unconscious, & rapeable
Because we’re destined to have the “Go Back to Mexico” Blues
Because of Pancho Villa’s hidden treasure in Chihuahua
Because of Bogart’s hidden treasure in the sierra Madre
Because we need more murals honoring our Indian Past
Because we are really dark French Creoles in a Cantinflas costume
Because of this Aztec reflex to sacrifice ourselves
Because we couldn’t clean up hurricane Katrina
Because of this Spanish penchant to be polite and aggressive
Because we had a vision of Sor Juana in drag
Because we smell of tamales soaked in Tequila
Because we got hooked listening to Indian Jazz in Chiapas
Because we’re still waiting to be cosmic
Because our passport says we’re out of date
Because our organ donor got lost in a Bingo game
Because we got to learn English first & get in line & pay a little fee

[dkf]

2. #1 reason: because it's illegal.

What more do you need?

[Flaneur]

3. Ah, channeling Lou Dobbs again...

[dkf]

4. Sigh. If you are going to defend lawbreaking you need a better argument than

calling someone names.