Jesus at the Monoloco

So many choices on a hot Antigua night—
platos fuertes, nachos, entradas, ensaladas, postres, bebidas.
Jesus makes his selection
and the local crowd drinks Gallo beer.
He remembers the Egyptian Sphinx
on the beer maker’s tomb
next to crypts for the city’s poor
stacked eight high in rows of thirty or more.
The words of the prophet are written on the tenement halls.

The yearly rent?
100 quetzales

If you can’t make it
they bust open your grave,
throw your body into the city dump.
Population explosion is the explanation—
No room at the inn.