ARIZONA GREEN (Manifesto #1070)

by Juan Felipe Herrera

For all those marching & writing against SB1070 & for all those who want to believe it




So it came to pass –


After the boycotts left the Arizona banks tortilla burnt & chipotle dry

After the boycotts shooed away the Repugnicants from the casinos & spas

After the boycotts jammed all the Holiday Inns the Westins & the rest

After the airports only served three-day old Nachos

After the Gun Show tents frizzled into piñata bits

After all the lawns in Scottsdale rolled themselves up en route to Naco

After all the turistas popped-a-wheely en route to Mesquite then El Paso

After all the jailbirds busted out singing de colores de colores

After all the city councils got bumped down by los panaderos

After all the mayors got spanked up by las barrenderas

After the last vigilantee skipped out incognito as George López

After Governor Jan Brewer offered free workshops in Pendejismo

After all the bordo walls & scanners & patrols shriveled & popped


Arizona went green

Arizona went green


Yes Arizona went absolutely green

Chile verde green

Celery & lechuga green

Jalapeño green Serrano green

Broccoli green artichoke green green grape green

All those campesino greens all those greens

All those Folklórico dress greens & danzante penacho bead greens


It was a kinda flowery Virgen de Guadalupe green

It was a kinda green you notice after an August monsoon storm green

It was a kinda green you notice after ICE agents zoom zoom out green

It was a kinda green you notice when you are runnin’ ilegal yes


You know the earth is with you

You know it because everyday you touch it you speak to it

You say

with your cilantro-shaped voice You say

Eres todo lo que tengo

You are all I have

You say it because it takes a road ramblin’ crossin’ life to say it

You say it because it takes lost familia hands to touch it so you lift them

You join them with other hands even if they are miles miles away


That is when you dance

That is when you dance green in the green wind

That is when you dance green on the blown southern deserts of Arizona

Wild blades of green among the borderdead

You rise again



Cilantronary:

• los panaderos, the bakers, givers of bread on your corner
• las barrenderas, the cleaning women, as in people’s flags as in banderas de la gente green
• Pendejismo, stupidity with a pen, a pen with Repugnicant ink inc.
• bordo, border as in the shape of an “Oh-rah-leh, chale!)
• lechuga, lettuce, (ley-chew-gah, and as in “let us,” as in ley as in people’s law)
• campesino, farmworker all amped up, ampesino, ampesina, ampesin@ green
• Folklórico, Chican@ Mexican regional dance group, feelin’ good, a national green zapateado across community centros & schools & streets in Phoenix all the way to Tenochitlan and beyond green
• Danzante penacho, Aztec ceremonial dancer breast-plate & a green pen, a feathery pen made of ceremonial stomps across the green migrante trails that erase all borders with green songs, green insence & puro corazón.

- Juan Felipe Herrera / 5-3-10 ©