Limousine suite,
covered
in whitened frosting and sand castles,
radio is off
as we would like to hear
the interstate speak.
at this rate
at this limousine speed
we have caught hornet swarms
in our mouth,
and arroyos in our hands.
and now
I will dress in your moles,
and in your appetites,
in your nail polish-
that would be
when a royal flush
disrobes us
in the wild west routes
coated in engines
and spices of bouquets;
that is when
I consider Mexico
and its irrepressible borders;
its sonnets, its corridos
and its hound nose
for the unrestrictive
and the divisible, like
the rush of it all,
the breeze of it all,
wipes us like babies,
once again,
and engraves us
anywhere
this limousine might take us.
Arturo Cortez Jr. was born and resides in the Rio Grande Valley. He lived in Mexico (Rio Bravo, Tamaulipas) the first 14 years of his life. Besides poetry, he’s a big fan of tattoos, Magic: The Gathering (trading card game), nights of carne asada plus drinking, and the essence of hope and staying hopeful. Still in the stages of exploring themes and finding his own voice in writing, Cortez Jr. engages mainly in topics of coming of age, identity and hometown nostalgia. His poetry has been published in the anthology Boundless 2024.
