A Verse by Victor Gonzalez Perez (AKA Victor Gonzalez)

Victor Gonzalez Perez was born in Aibonito, Puerto Rico.  His parents immigrated to San Francisco, California when he was a child.  His family later moved to Brooklyn, New York. From New York they moved back to Puerto Rico, and then back to San Francisco, California where he spent the major part of his life. He is now retired and resides permanently in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico. He wrote this verse in San Francisco in 1971.

Right Now Boxed Into Walls

      by Victor Gonzalez Perez

                 A thin veil bars

                 -- mine and theirs -- 

                 And yet miniscule glimpses

                 -- eyes blinking

                 Gasping for an answer beyond now.

                 Recuerdos (memories)

                 Upon the tiny plaza where

                 sleep the dead heroes

                 the fountain stands

                 eternal vigil.

                 Fire tree leaves

                 -- el flamboyan --

                carpet the promenade

                a lovers' nest.

                Recuerdos (memories)

red faced roofs and balconies like embroidered

mouths where grandma sat on her sugarcane

throne counting the seasons

her eyes of spanish tiles watching green mountains

dangling from the clouds

while the tiny insect troubadors lulled the night

to sleep in its satin hammock

                Ahora (& now)

                The day swallows

                the rainbow garden's

                frail butterfly

                The arch of thorns

                crumbles on its halo

                -- and you and i struggle on

                perched on the brink

                of yesterdays.

                               [November 1971]