El Queso Grande

Believe me, you’re a star now
Because you said so yourself
And your minions applauded you
Like the newly elected Pope —
And you said to them in the most
Poetic way: “What the fuck,
What the fuck did I say that
Got you all riled up over nothing?”

Believe me, you’re a star now
Because God pushed you into this
Against your will, for you’d rather
Not be in the public eyes, proclaiming
Your inner sickness, because
You’re sick of it all, totally disgusted
With the way everything’s being
Processed like cheese and broccoli,
Macaroni and root beer,
You fucked it all up, you gave
The wrong response
And they nailed you to the cross
Of really bad poetry
When all you wanted was to
Rediscover love and adventure,
To immerse yourself into a
Different world,
But you’ve become a fatality
Of misunderstood words.

Believe me, you’re a star now,
Gazing outside your window
And enjoying the view of
Consumers like rats, driving babies
In shopping carts, stopping
Googly-eyed at every aisle
To check out the price of
Dozen bananas or a pound of
Roast beef, while you provoke
Them with authenticity —
Look at my soul in the frozen
Food section, look at my heart
In the carton of milk.

Believe me, you’re a star now,
Pasteurized and eulogized,
Analyzed and canonized,
Xeroxed and recycled
To look like a cloned replica
Of Jesus, you have worn
Your cross gracefully
Tattooed on your butt,
You have smoked big Cuban cigars
And kissed missing children,
You have shared bread with
Politicians and the lowest scum
Of the earth because you
Loved them all, when they didn’t
Even remember your name.

But you.

You were the Big Cheese —
El Queso Grande —
Waking the masses each day
With your loud verses
That dropped like large hammers
Upon the unaware heads —
You were the pure genius,
The distillate brilliance of
A thousand suns
That used a serrated knife
To cut the jugular of boredom,
Letting the blood flow from
Your thirsty lips.

Yes, you’re a star now,
Exploding on your suicide mission
Into a billion pieces,
Leaving nothing but love
In your terrorist tracks.


  April 30, 2005
--Alexander Shaumyan