Three Poems
Through Your Nickname
You started selling contemporary paintings
graduated from college after the summer
found love between October and November
He gave you the ring and you invited everyone
Counted the days until the wedding came
Now you are pregnant with a poll for the name
I can’t stop thinking when did I added you to
my contact list?
I need to start deleting other strangers from my
Messenger before It’s too late
The Nickname Statement
A picture is no longer what people
might use to search for another soul
Your nickname will be their first impression
The only chance you’ll ever get to connect
Andrea used to be so crazy, so beautiful
and so damn lonely but now it’s all a
question mark
Violet is 99% in love and 1% not
Angelica is selling a condo at the beach
Tory is at school and busy
Tomas asks you not to bother him because
his little angel is sleeping
Maria has a private joke about Martians I dare
not to ask
Ruben wonders how much fate owned him to
pay with finding her true love
Andres announces the concert he will
attend this weekend inviting every one
Sports fans use it as a place to update scores
humiliate the rivals and join forces
Some have not changed their nickname in years
I’ve been invisible for three
Pink Little Cupcakes
Cigarettes are consumed
over this we call the
two dollar therapy.
Sound travels faster
than it should
Some words reach
my ears and
I’ll never forget them.
Over pink little cakes
and white ones stuffed
with cream.
Girls discuss something
while a car waits outside
Paola’s boyfriend is outside
Impatient, but doesn’t come inside
Do you think I should do it?
She asks her two friends
and forgets there are others
listening to every word.
It’s in the middle of the afternoon
she’s been going out with him
for one year
Before sunset she will loose
her virginity
Raul Gallardo did not study at a prestigious College. He’s not the protégé of some famous writer or filmmaker. He did not graduate top of his class, nor was he the local hero at the championship of the soccer, baseball, or any other sport. He’s not involved in any altruist organizations or any political party. He speaks in Spanish, thinks in English and writes in a combination of both. He used to have the privilege of never having won any award or contest but he has broken the tradition by being a finalist in the Wergle Flomp Contest.