“1989 Caprice Classic,” a poem

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“Is it talking dirty if you’re just listening? What you see in the picture is me. Passenger Front seat. Cinder block wall behind me. I mailed it to my Romanian pen pal, me making a sexy face in my friend’s Falcon. To my right is the dustless dashboard. In the backseat is my older friend Junior. Give me a sexy look, he says. He’s taking a picture for my pen pal but it’s really for him. It’s also for me. For my other friend who’s driving. My sexy hair looks like this: a ponytail on top of my head, wavy brown cascading over to the side of my face. In my denim jacket and white button up, the other thing that sizzles is my plaid flannel skirt, one my mother made. Her hands lined my hem. The driver rolls carefully down my alley. Me, trying out my sexy look and he’s looking too. We enjoy it, watching me try. And I enjoy trying.”

Read the whole poem at BOOM:

https://boomcalifornia.com/2020/08/17/1989-caprice-classic/

Shout out to editors Carribean Fragoza and Romeo Guzman! And gracias to the illustrator Fernando Mendez Corona.

“Faking Business,” a new story up at the JFR

What happens when your arch nemesis shows up at a random Commerce quinceañera in the same Payless platforms? Find out here at The James Franco Review.

Thanks to the staff at The James Franco Review and Kamala Puligandla, the guest editor, for selecting the work. And to Sergio’s Tacos, just because.Sergio's Tacos

A Man in His Backyard: sightseeing in City of Commerce with author Stephen Gutierrez

The essay is like driving through the streets of southeast LA: past its modest homes, past the Citadel Outlets, past parks and schools that made gold medal swimmers and writers like Steve. Of course the journey ends with stuffed churros– how else could it go?
Thanks to Steve for his stories and rivers that sound like freeways.