can’t say I know        how to unbuckaroo el vaqueroaun hablando español y así     it ain’t a quick assayto sort vámanos from vamoose      it’s been aggregatebut cowboys were Black&Mexican        until they hit the silver screeny la Época de Oro was all charro too       overexposed celluloidblack&white       more white than black      what’s new ?not this : the Cochise County sheriff      wearing his ten-galloncameras rolling     reading the script     claiming invasionnot this : the rich politician     telling us to hate the poornot this : the Border Patrol agent     on horsebackwaving whips at Black Haitians     on the riverbankwhat century is this anyway ?      the twenty-firstbut where’re you from ?     the words colorado condado cochise corralnevada santa cruz sierra vista           ¿ y yo qué ?       ¿ cómo es queI ain’t entered the poem yet   tomando por dado       que hablo así talking as if I wasn’t part of it ?    well       I want to tell youthis is just how we talk     in TOMBSTONE ARIZONA     except it ain’tyo luchaba pa esta lengua    trying to hear past       what I was toldy aun así       it ain’t only me    the horizon reseeds   as I write my horsetoward destination     &there ain’t no horse     ain’t no absolutionjust Kidme      at the kitchen table     spinning spirographtangle to pattern      speak&spell       borderlands AM radioaccordions swirling from static    writing down in messy black penevery Spanish word he could think of     desesperado       to desperadoat the MUSEUM      Kidme kerplunks a coin     into the ol’ MUTOSCOPEputs face to viewer        cranks the handle       gears turn fotos flip flipflipflipflip so fast        pictures motion      an early motion picturethe scene is a GUNFIGHT        big surprise      when the end comesthe bodies pop back up        &gunsmoke each other      again&again     until the quarter runs out          &the audience goes broke&Kidme learns from the EXHIBITS whether he understands them or not :cowboy : impulsive individual who          through a show of force attemptsto resolve a conflict       to corral is to gain control of anything     Apache :from the Zuni ápachu ‘enemy’      famous for their bellicose behaviorinextricably linked in the popular mind with the cowboy&killer cowboys are how    the stakes are set    in Tombstone (1993)the opening scene     tropes massacre    of a Mexican weddingto say LOOK      these cowboys are BAD    they even shoot the padre&drag the bride into darkness     while Kidme watches      big screenlearning to see       disposable brown characters      a blockbuster &no Black actorsrenegade from renegado         cinch from cincho        nada from nothingso what’s a YEEEEEHAW    to a HOWDY DO ?        what’s a HOoOME homeon the RANGE ?      what’s a hobby rancher      shooting a migrant in the backyears after writing a shitty novel       about a hero rancher      shooting a Mexican ?a headline ripped from a drama       a historama      a rodeo break ?whiteness miraged as truth&consequence ?          a vacated vacada ?a cinch a steal a snitch a ‘stache       a freeholy in the ol’ switcheroo ?fuck this it ain’t where I’m from            except yes            it absolutely is