and one through the whoreboy bar of queers where spidery heroes perform whore dances in turtleneck sweaters for assembled critical elders of 22âlook through both holes and see the eye of the criminal, criminal in heaven.âI plow through digging the scene, swinging my bag with the bottle in it, I twist and give the whores a few twisting looks as I walks, they send me stereotyped soundwaves of scorn from cussin doorwaysâI am starving, I start eating El Indioâs sandwich he gave me which at first Iâd sought to refuse so as to leave it for the cat but El Indio insisted it was a present for me, so I nakedly breast-high in one delicate hold as I walk along the streetâseeing the sandwich I begin to eat itâfinishing it, I start buying tacos as I run by, any kind, any stand where they yell âJoven!ââI buy stinking livers of sausages chopped in black white onions steaming hot in grease that crackles on the inverted fender of the grilleâI munch down on heats and hotsauce salsas and come to devouring whole mouthloads of fire and rush alongânevertheless I buy another one, further, two, of broken cow-meat hacked on the woodblock, head and all it seems, bits of grit and gristle, all mungied together on a mangy tortilla and chewed down with salt, onions, and green leafâdicedâa delicious sandwich when you get a good standâThe stands are 1,2,3 in a row a half mile down the street, tragically lit by candles and dim bulbs and strange lanterns, the whole of Mexico a Bohemian Adventure in the great outdoor plateau night of stones, candle and mistâI pass Plaza Garibaldi the hot spot of the police, strange crowds are grouping in narrow streets around quiet musicians that only later faintly you hear corneting round the blockâMarimbas are drumming in the big barsâRich men, poor men, in wide hats mingleâCome out of swinging doors spitting cigar putts and clapping big hands over their jock as though they were about to dive in a cold brookâguiltyâUp the side streets dead buses waddling in the mud holes, spots of fiery yellow whoredress in the dark, assembled leaners and up against the wall lovers of the loving Mexican nightâPretty girls passing, every age, all the comic Gordos and me turn big heads to watch them, theyâre too beautiful to bearâ
I rock right by the Post Office, cross the bottom of Juarez, the Palace of Fine Arts sinking nearby,âyoke myself to San Juan Letran and fall to hiking up fifteen blocks of it fast passing delicious places where they make the churros and cut you hot salt sugar butter bites of fresh hot donut from the grease basket, that you crunch freshly as you cover the Peruvian night ahead of your enemies on the sidewalkâAll kinds of crazy gangs are assembled, chief gleeful leaders getting high on gang leadership wear crazy woollen Scandanavian Ski hats over their zoot paraphenalias and Pachuco haircutsâOther day here Iâd passed a gang of children in a gutter their leader dressed as a clown (with nylon stocking over head) and wide rings painted around the eyes, the littler kids have imitated him and attempted similar clown outfits, the whole thing gray and blackened eyes with white loops, like silks of great racetracks the little gang of Pinocchioan heroes (and Genet) paraphernaliaing on the street curb, an older boy making fun of the Clown Hero âWhat are you doing clowning, Clown Hero?âThere ainât no Heaven anywhere?â âThere ainât no Santa Claus of Clown Heroes, mad boyââOther gangs of semi-hipsters hide in front of nightclub bars with wronks and noise inside, I fly by with one quick Walt Whitman look at all that file derollâIt starts raining harder, Iâve got a long way to go walking and pushing that sore leg right along in the gathering rain, no chance no intention whatever of hailing a cab, the whiskey and the Morphine have made me unruffled