Manuel Sigüenza

Mr. Damaso

Honors English 2, Period 7

19 March 2010

SRP Emulation Poem

“A Small Motor” by Alberto Ríos

The easiest sadness is a boy
Watching another boy
Walk with a barefooted girl, clean

Perfect feet, that kind of nose,

Eyes like those he’s dreamed
In the dream that comes back.

A boy watching another boy lucky

Gets an ache
That is a small motor.

In me there is an animal,
And in that animal
There is a hunger.

I remember the boy

Watching a boy.
It was me.

Watching, I was a little bit

The boy walking.
I was both of us.

That’s how it felt.

What I could not have,
That’s what I was

Inside, an ache
Coming as I stood
Too many places.

“A Tiny Engine”
After Alberto Álvaro Ríos

The sorest anguish is a man

Watching a younger man
Perform with a band, nice

Sweet rhythms, soft beats

And instruments that one would dream
To have but will never own.

A man awkwardly watching a lucky kid

Gives him heartburn
That is a tiny engine.
Inside of me is a beast,
And in that beast,
A thirst is present.

I can recall the man

Watching the other man.
He was me.

Staring, I essentially was

Him up there.
I was two in one.

Or at least I felt that.

What I couldn't have was
Who I was

And deep inside, a pain

Entering as I lie
Too few places.