THE SNAKE

by Ana Garza G'z
after the song of the same name by Oscar Brown, Jr.

Sisters Africa and Maggie Brown, daughters of Oscar Brown Jr. who wrote the song "The Snake,” criticize President Trump for using it as an anti-immigration reference during rallies.

“The Snake”: Donald T***p brings back his favorite

anti-immigrant fable at CPAC —CNN, February 23, 2018

With her remote control one evening flipping past commercial breaks,
a media-driven nation saw a narcissistic snake.
His orange colored hair had been all sprayed back with some goo.
"Oh, wow," she laughed, "I'll take you in, and I'll watch what you do."

Taken in, Media nation.
Taken in, for heaven's sake.
Taken in, Media nation, by a snake.

She watched him on her TV in her jammies and her quilt,
giving him high ratings, his land of honey and of milk.
Then hurrying home to couch one night to giggle and to gasp,
she found the orange snake she'd taken to was in command.

Taken in, Media nation.
Taken in, for heaven's sake.
Taken in, Media nation, by a snake.

She shrieked and clutched her bosom, "You were spectacle," she moaned,
"and if I hadn't brought you in, by now you would be gone."
She picked up her remote, and then she gripped it tight.
The orange head came up and out for a narcissistic strike.

Taken in, media nation.
Taken in, for heaven's sake.
Taken in, media nation, by a snake.

"But I watched you," whined the nation, “and you've poisoned me and mine—
“guns, banks, oil, insurance companies, and white nationalism poised to thrive."
"I hear you, fake-news nation," said the reptile, from his notes.
"You knew damn well I was a snake before all those tremendous votes.”

Taken in, media nation.
Taken in, for heaven's sake.
Taken in, media nation, by a snake.

Ana Garza G'z has an M. F. A. from California State University, Fresno, where she teaches part-time. Sixty-five of her poems have appeared in various journals and anthologies, most recently in Unmasked: Women Write About Sex and Intimacy After Fifty. She also works as an interpreter and translator.

AT LARGE

by Ana Garza G'z

Someone threw a gallon of urine in the lobby of the Fresno Housing Authority office on the Fulton Mall on Thursday morning, the Fresno Fire Department said. The office, in the 1300 block of the mall, was evacuated briefly while the Fire Department investigated the incident, which happened about 10 a.m. A man described by a witness as "homeless" tossed the container, which then broke, spilling the fluid, a Fire Department spokesman said. There were no injuries and workers returned to the building. The suspect is at large. --The Fresno Bee, Thursday, Jan. 17, 2013

Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/2013/01/17/3137073/container-of-urine-thrown-in-fresno.html#storylink=cpy

No pride--just  a glass door, a desk,
a story, an application.
Weeks later, you’re denied
By a scowl when you check in.

You wonder what it takes
to fill a gallon with piss?
Well, first, you need a gallon.
You think you can get milk,

but for that, you need four dollars.
You also need a fridge.
to keep it in, a house,
gas and power service,

and a forty-hour job
that pays at least minimum
so you can try for Food Stamps
and low-income housing.

You have to wait on both,
despite the questions (“where do you live?”)
despite the weather (January),
despite the work you did

in that other life.
God forbid,
the people  who spend four dollars
on a cup of coffee spend

a little extra here
and there. They’ll never miss
a cent. You panhandle for
a morning to buy the milk.

You drink it in a day.
You get the massive shits.
You don’t care. You aim,
and you gather every drip,

every single drip. You take
your time. With dehydration,
it takes five days. You sit
at public computers, filling in

boxes. And then you walk
back to the glass doors and the desk
with nothing for the jobless,
but advice: those who seek find success.

You stand there, under a roof
you can’t have, and you give in
to the impulse to show them
your work, a gallon, which you spill.


Ana Garza G'z has an M. F. A. from California State University, Fresno. Forty-one of her poems have appeared in various journals and anthologies, most recently in The Mom Egg. She works as a community interpreter and translator.