Bewares

must do in a zombie apocalypse

one, if you are reading this list, relax
you are not yet a flesh-eating zombie

two, always have your weapon on ready
whether shotgun, machete, or chanclas

three, what? sandals have scared millions silly
through decades of Spanish-speaking cultures

must not do in zombie apocalypse

one, never play games with “friendly” zombies
you will be the human in the middle

two, don’t accept a dinner invitation
you will be the only course of the night

three, don’t eat heavy on Mexican food
it will slow you down; they will smell you out

Courtesy

“Please Be Polite. Walk And Talk Quietly.”
the sign back at my workplace hallway read

it was a courtesy to everyone
all the offices in this one building
when it was hustling for financial gain
when it was bustling with tremendous work
teaming with ideas on making more
more business, more customers, more money,
when that noise could potentially get loud
with the coming and going of humans
live ones who became the unsuspecting
those live, vigorous, unsuspecting ones
sadly, now those days are so far long gone

“Please Be Polite. Walk And Talk Quietly.”
…or the walking-sick will hear you coming

Door

it was a lockdown that went way too long
the teacher hurried through the procedures
in the attempt to keep everyone safe
yet the threat was already deep inside

inside the school, inside the long hallways
inside the thick and heavy, metal door
inside the very classroom they were in
him and thirty young souls with the lights out

scared to death where fear has consequences
hours passed without a single update
in the darkness of the wait, it happened
sadly, without notice, one of them turned

the door was meant to keep the threat outside
now it seems that it will keep it inside

Preaching

“the end is coming soon,” they used to say
don’t think they saw it coming in this way
doesn’t matter anyhow, they’re all dead
among other religious fanatics
teachers, lawyers, many politicians
less than five years removed from pandemic

twenty-twenty also birthed a famine
life changing, globally devastating

man started eating anything he could
cannibalism didn’t cause the change
it was when they started eating the dogs
one of a genetics-lab’s last mixed-breeds
the up-right dog born to walk on two legs
harboring “resurrection infection”

Chupa-Ku, Volume XI: No. 41-45

cry me a river
despair over the bodies
fat goats drained of life

peaceful chicken coup
where silence tears through morning
the last feather falls

the circle of life
involving chupacabras
is never pretty

turn away, don’t look
for what it feeds upon now
may be your own pet

waiting in the woods
for those who say it’s not real
el chupacabra