The Making of Two Revolutionaries, you begin

So, this guy, Paco, tells me he was small town born
grew up here wearing traditional dress
red lines, cosmic glyphs, visions of the universe
flying serpents, geometric patterns
this small city messy with power lines. He
went to university, but was overtaken by loitering
in the halls with plastic strings plucked by his fingers.
Cris came to him, impregnated the lyrics with revolution
imbued the chords with suffering, and they went into
a hollow history, into the ruins, to subvert the oppression
to dig out the ancients, and put them in the air
with chord and melody.


Cris was born Christian from German father
escaped from Germany in 1940.
His father became a human rights representative
came to the k’iche’ area
empathized from experience with the refugees
gave his now archived, I too am a refugee speech.
His name became Cristo, then Cris.
He studied law in Mexico City , helped a boy with a guitar become a trova singer, then a man donned the mask and ducked into the jungle



What’s your name, she asks. Is it Cris?

You ignore her.



About the author:
Previously, Ralph-Michael Chiaia wrote poetic travel articles for The Grasshopper and also discharged various muck for corporate-owned trade magazines before he suddenly left his cubicle, walked out of his office without saying goodbye to anybody, took all his money out of the bank, and got on a plane. Now he roams and grumbles in different locales until he discovers flow and then sits down and scribbles with a lead stick.

"Searching Instructions" by RMC was published at Word Riot in August 2003. After the Riot, he finished a novella in verse titled Zeitgeber & the Maya.

RMC's work has been likened to Julio Cortazar, Michael Ondaatje, and The Notorious B.I.G.

You can check him at his blog: rmchiaia.typepad.com or litchaos.com where he is an editor.

© 2009 Word Riot