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<<to kill "matar en inglés">>Editor's Note/Nota del Editor: This poem was written in English by a poet who writes in both Spanish and English, and translated into Spanish by another poet who speaks both Spanish and English. Este poema fue escrito en inglés por un poeta que escribe en español e inglés, y se tradujo al español por otro poeta que habla español e inglés.

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Tequila Mockingbird

Trying to impress my brother and his Canadian friends
I told them about Tequila Don Julio and Siete Leguas.
They were talking about some Tequila Mockingbird
I thought it was one of those reserved for tourists and
ignorant throats.

I kept on telling them about my many visits to tequila factories
and battles with this precious elixir.
They all stared at me in silence, until someone began to talk again
about the Tequila Mockingbird.
It was useless trying to impress this crowd.

When the use of English was no longer needed my brother told me
about the famous tequila.

It’s not a pinche tequila but a book pendejo, he explained
they said “to kill” not tequila.

He told me it was written by some Harper Lee and how it
was a great book I should read.
Now his friends think I’m crazy, but if they named Tequila Cuervo
after a bird, the same could happen with this Mockingbird.

It will be a popular brand with the locals and tourists alike.

Matar un Ruiseñor

Quise impresionar a mi hermano y a sus amigos canadienses,
les comenté del tequila Don Julio y Siete Leguas.
Estaban hablando de un tequila Mockingbird
y pensé que era uno de esos reservados para turistas y catadores ignorantes.

Les conté acerca de mis muchas visitas a las destilerías
y mis batallas con ese precioso elixir.
Se me quedaron miraron en silencio hasta que alguien comenzó a hablar de nuevo
acerca del tequila Mockingbird.
Fue inútil el tratar de impresionarlos.

Cuando ya no fue necesario hablar en inglés
mi hermano me explicó acerca del famoso tequila

Pendejo, no es un pinche tequila, es un libro. Explicó
que estaban pronunciando «to kill "matar en inglés"» y no tequila.

Dijo que lo escribió una tal Harper Lee y que
era un gran libro que debería leer.
Ahora sus amigos piensan que estoy loco, pero si tomaron el nombre de un pájaro para nombrar el tequila Cuervo,
lo mismo puede pasar con este Mockingbird

Sería una marca popular con los locales y los turistas.



Raúl Gallardo Flores was born in 1982 in León, Guanajuato. In 2008, he won the award for best sci-fi/fantasy short screenplay at the Action on Film festival in Pasadena, California. In 2009, his screenplay "Pretending" was a finalist in the Festival of Guanajuato Expression in Short. His poems and stories have appeared in Pens on Fire, Neon Magazine, The Cynic Online Magazine, and The IMPpress, and he was a finalist in the Wergle Flomp Humor poetry competition. You can purchase his book The Absurd Rules of Life on Apple and Amazon platforms in English and Spanish.
Current Issue
16 Dec 2024

Across the train tracks from BWI station, a portal shimmered in the shade of a patch of tall trees. From her seat on a northbound train taking on passengers, Dottie watched a woman slip a note out of her pocket, place it under a rock, strip off her work uniform, then walk naked, smiling, into the portal.
exposing to the bone just how different we are
a body protesting thinks itself as a door out of a darkroom, a bullet, too.
In this episode of SH@25, Editor Kat Kourbeti sits down with Vivian (Xiao Wen) Li to discuss her foray into poetry, screenwriting, music composition and more, and also presents a reading of her two poems published in 2022, 'Ave Maria' and 'The Mezzanine'.
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