BREAKFAST WITH MICTLANTECUHTLI
By Vincent Rendoni
The God of the Dead rolls up to my bed. Parks his black hearse whip next to my second-story window. Speakers blasting a shit rendition of Suavecito. Through a crown of pigeon feathers & an obsidian grill, he tells me I won the motherfucking lottery. To hurry up & let him in already. He drinks cup after cup of my coffee. Helps himself to some Monster Energy. Crackles with static electricity. & when he's got his tachycardia on, he pulls me close with those ropey, Virgen-covered arms & gifts me a vision. Shows me his crib on the River Styx: A black-&-gray fortress pyramid with roped-off exits. Hundreds of hundred-handed bouncers shaking down, plucking out the obolitos from the freshly departed.
He sees my eyes glazing over. My mind on TV. Senses no respect for the gift he’s bestowing. The balls on me to be bored by this skeleton-faced jabroni.
He brushes his lips against my ears. His voice is on me. His scent under me. Deadly, deadly snuff. I am awake now. I have never been more awake. I was just joking.
The God of the Dead affirms this is real. & he is real. & my father is there. & my abuelos are there. & I will be there. So, enjoy every damn sandwich.
I sit with that. I walk with that. Back with him to the universe’s lowest, slowest ride. I half-expect him to take me. He chides me. Clicks his tongue at me. Blows me a puff without a pass.
He calls me Junior. He laughs. He slaps me on the back. I cough up a little bit blood. But don’t worry. It’s not like, much.
I clean myself up. I look at the red beneath my fingernails. & I take the day to think about what it means to be nowhere & everywhere all at once.
—
Vincent Antonio Rendoni
He is the author of “A Grito Contest in the Afterlife,” which was the winner of the 2022 Catamaran Poetry Prize for West Coast Poets. His work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and Best Small Fictions multiple times. His work has appeared in The Sycamore Review, The Vestal Review, The Texas Review, Quarterly West, and So It Goes: The Literary Journal of the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library. You can find Vincent on Twitter/Instagram @Warshingtonian and his website VincentRendoni.com, and check out his book here.