By Ronnie Burk

Ronnie Burk was born April Fool's Day, 1955 in Sinton, Texas. 
His poetry and collage have appeared most recently in the pages of Caliban,
Night, Scrawling Wall, City Lights Review and The Stiffest of the 
Corpse Anthology. On January 17, 1991 Ronnie was arrested along with about 1,500 other San Franciscans for acts of civil disobedience
protesting the Gulf War. 



A Found Poem:

UNITED STATES IMMIGRATION LAWS

Problems

	The following are reasons you cannot be allowed into the United States. You are required to tell a consular officer or immigration officer if any of these reasons apply to you:
	You are a draft evader polygamous prostitute
	You are coming to engage in prohibitive activities; activities that are in opposition to the United States government; or to participate in the activities of subversive organizations.
	You are insane.
	You have ever been insane.
	You are mentally ill or homosexual.
	You are or were a communist or anarchist.
	or a deserter from the United States Armed Services.
	You are coming for immoral sexual acts.
	You are a beggar.
	You have been arrested for marijuana.
	You are likely to become a public charge.
	You are a drug addict or alcoholic.
	You have a dangerous, contagious disease...HIV, AIDS
	You were a Nazi and helped persecute people.

San Francisco 1992


DATURA

I am lost in the temperate zone of your flesh
w/ your mango peels dripping w/ coconut mil
w/ your see through eyes I see you
w/ your octopus tentacles yet to be inked
w/ your bracelets of shark bone and plummeria lei
w/ your macadamia nut house
w/ your kahuna bag full of pakalolo and see pearls
w/ your hair full of poi and rice
	ultraviolet
	orchid
	Tree
Is that your fragrance blasting
through the trumpet flowers?
Your delusion is my reality lost
as I am in the temperate
zone of your flesh

Maui 1993



INVISIBLE WORLD
(song for the ancestors)

See this hair?
You can have this hair
Long, black, Indian hair
All those dead Indians
Will come back
To live inside you
Here! take this hair
and may it give you enough strength
to live a million lives

See these hands?
You can have these hands
You'll be surprised
at the things
They can do for you
Here! take these hands
and may you find enough love
to hold on to

See these eyes?
You can have these eyes
They can see very far
Here! take these eyes
and may you see
to the end of many skies

1990