Rhino Wars (RIP Javs One)

Javier didn’t have a car.
Biked fifteen miles
From suburbs
All the way downtown
In depths of night
In cold and rain
Wind and thunder.

Showed me
His portfolio of
Aerosol colors and life
Telling stories
Of broken hearts
And lost dreams.

Almost married once.
She was the reason
He moved here.
I didn’t think much about it.

At his place he showed me
Amazing rhino
Done in aerosol
Life-like large
Black background
Dark canvas
Night.

He said he liked to paint rhinos.
I didn’t see the significance.

One time on the
Way home from downtown
I pulled over
While he leaned against
My car
Putting a finger down
His own throat.
Green vomit
splattering
onto sidewalk.

“I never throw up,” Javier said, surprised.
He drank a lot of liquor that night.
I didn’t think it was a big deal.

In exchange for the ride
Took me to lunch the next day.
Saying, “Johnny, you need to eat.”
I had a lot of late bills.
But, I didn’t say too much about it.

At the Thai restaurant in Hillcrest
We chatted about CIA, Cocaine
And 9/11 and tower number 7.
How the world was not right.
We asked questions.
But, didn’t find the answers.

I told him I would call him up
And we would hang out
But I never found the time.
At least that’s what
I told myself.

I didn’t think too much about it then.

A few months later
In doorway
Next to the Rhino
Javier’s body
Levitated from ground
Hung limp
Attached to
A rope
Around his neck.

Heavy debt, a girl, and liquor
Were the causes.

Maybe
I should have
Thought about it.

- Johnny Tran

Two Haiku Poems

Broken soul on ice
Cold darkness of the night sky
Hookers in alley

------------------------------------

Flashing neon lights.
Rain-soaked money. Drugs. Murder.
Bum happily drunk.

Currency

A piece of paper.
A unit.
A metal
We say is worth
Value.

We fight over
What we think is
Worthy of sweat
And blood.
Slave to the
Daily hustle
And grind.

Go to the bar afterwards
Fifty-cent beers
TGIF because
You deserve it.

Steadily dumbing
Down for hours
While paying cash.

The next day
Hung over and docile.

Watching television
Absorbing commercials
Intake chemicals
Fluoride in the water.
Secret assassinations.
Posting every second
Of our lives in Facebook
And Myspace
And Twitter
Being watched
Digital
Cellphones tapped by
Chinese satellites in outer space.
And war.

A million distractions
American Idol, video games
And porn.
Buy more, do more, be more
Everybody needs to own
A home, as if
You can really own
Anything at all
Except your life
Which you’ve already given away.

Market crash
Print more money
Create more value
Give to corporations
CEOs take vacations
While workers get
Drunk at the bar
Amber whiskey
Shots pounding
Headache paying back
Mountains of debt
Green Vomit
White toilet
Flushing away
The American dream.

- Johnny Tran