Letters (and poems) To The Editors

Your spring issue about Juarez and the Mexican Border touched me deeply. I am sharing 2 poems here, about Mexico.  One is a lament for Juarez itself, and the other is remembering back to the 3 2-week Easter stays I had in Mexico in the 80s, and how different it was compared to today (not such a violent place).  Our group leader felt in his soul that Mexico would fall to insurgency.  Of course back then the big fear, with the cold war and things happening in El Salvador, is that Mexico would fall to Communism.  If you ask me, what is going on today, is much worse.  I don't know if Literal would consider publshing these in the next issue (or at least the one about Juarez) as "featured poems", or just "letters to the editor".  Anyway, I wanted to share. 
I love your magazine. 
 
Por siempre, 
Miguel Muller 
 

Tears Along The Border (God Save Juarez) 
 
So many tears 
 
along the border 
 
so many deaths 
 
so little order. 
 
So many promises 
 
of so many jobs 
 
so many busses 
 
filled with the mobs. 
 
So little housing 
 
or civil construction 
 
so little law 
 
so much corruption. 
 
No realization 
 
of what can be done 
 
to improve the lifestyle 
 
under the deadly sun. 
 
So little value 
 
for individual life 
 
with law enforcement causing 
 
only more grief and strife. 
 
So many mysteries 
 
of a husband or wife 
 
murdered while survivors' 
 
sadness cuts like a knife. 
 
So many stories 
 
so many just disappear 
 
so little support 
 
so many constantly in fear. 
 
Can Juarez recover 
 
can its people stay alive 
 
something needs to change 
 
for its' spirit to survive. 
 
So many real living people 
 
not just bees in a senseless hive 
 
they deserve a chance to breathe 
 
and flourish 
 
they deserve a chance to soar 
 
and thrive. 
 
 
 

Memories of Mexico 
 
Memories of Mexico 
 
Glorious days in the past 
 
midnight walks through Chapultepec Park 
 
days at Teotihuacan and Ixta-Popo 
 
out past two at the Metro Cathedral 
 
a weeklong stay that went by fast. 
 
 
 
Then to the beach at Puerto Vallarta 
 
Carlos O'Brian's was a party place 
 
shopping and bargaining all over town 
 
cobblestone streets of historic beauty 
 
strolling the sands from hotel to hotel 
 
I will always recall with a smile on my face. 
 
 
 
Our tour leader Mr. Larson 
 
had a very intelligent mind 
 
he knew then Mexico was in trouble 
 
he knew then they would have a rough future 
 
he knew then life would get harder 
 
he was not nieve, frivolous, or blind. 
 
 
 
Now my heart cries for Mexico 
 
to Our Lady of Guadalupe I pray 
 
more and more violence making the news 
 
a 20 year old girl becomes her puebla's sheriff 
 
may Mexico recover like Colombia 
 
AND NOT BE KNOWN BY ITS DRUGS, SOME DAY!!