Dixie Salazar has published three books of poetry: HOTEL FRESNO, REINCARNATION OF THE COMMONPLACE, BLOOD MYSTERIES and forthcoming from University of Arizona Press in 2009, FLAMENCO HIPS AND RED MUD FEET. She has a novel, LIMBO from White Pine Press and is also a visual artist, working primarily in oils. Her art studio, Silva Salazar Studio is located at 654 Van ness. She has taught extensively in the prisons and currently is involved with a project for creating a homeless drop in center in downtown Fresno.

Altar with George Carlin
album, flattened tin can and Donald Trump’s toupee
On the matter of stuff
(After Hikmet)

It’s no crime to be Donald
Trump--
It’s not a crime even to die
for stuff,
but it’s a crime to be
homeless.
If you don’t believe me
try trading your three piece
or silk chemise and Jimmy
Choos
for an army jacket, torn
jeans, backpack
then walking to dinner with
friends
on the wrong side of the
unblessed street--
try diving without scuba gear
behind the Radisson
or smoking by the railroad
tracks
without your ID
washing windows without a
permit
piling all your stuff in a
shopping cart
and wheeling it between F and G 

at the midnight hour
or try sleeping under a Perseus shower
without a license; try
dreaming
under an unauthorized
trestle--
wild stallions, windfall
pears                             
empty bird cages,
untranquilized lions
guarantee a boxcar of
unposted bail.                     
Try the flamingo or child’s
pose
in Courthouse park if you’re
recognized--
if your name is on the list.
It’s all a matter of which
side of the fence
you sleep on— which line
you step over—which shiny
star you piss off                                                             
or maybe just possession
of fraudulent zip codes.
 It’s no crime to be Donald Trump
It’s not a crime to die for
stuff
unless its stuff unsecured by
Turner or Yale
a paper cup of felonious
poppies                         
an open container of sorrow
a doghouse with no P.O box. 

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