LAPD Police Scanner
Translation I: Pedestrian Incident
Héctor Ramírez
Like my father // he does not have a knife at this time // I am the male Hispanic with a moustache // male Hispanic mental capacity is // I am drunk on mezcal and // forty-four seventeen suspect sighting // this blood moon has me // fifty-four eleven threatening suicide // hissing and panicking // shots heard neighbor residence // like Quetzalcoatl in a squad car // ten thirty-nine possibly afraid of the police // unlike my father // stand by for further // who remains silent // zero seven nine shots fired // like obsidian // five shots were heard // Last night I had a dream I don’t remember // brown or grey last seen // we were running across the freeway // hoodie possibly six foot // during the eclipse // eighteen suspect does not // the two of us dodging cars // code two male Hispanic // when we saw // female Hispanic all black clothing // La Llorona // grey shirt black pants male Hispanic all black clothing // spreading her rebozo // suspect threatening to // like eagle wings // eight four three zero toward rear alley // so we crossed the center divider // brown shirt grey pants male Hispanic with a moustache // waded into traffic // pedestrian incident // our naked arms // four four nine one possible shots fired in the area possibly suspect // above our heads // incident four four nine four male Hispanic medium build possibly with a gun //
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Héctor Ramírez is a writer and educator living in Boulder, CO. He received his B.A. in Literary Arts from Brown University in 2012 and is currently an MFA candidate at the University of Colorado, Boulder, where he also serves as the assistant director of the CU Boulder Upward Bound program. He reads fiction submissions for Timber Journal and is an event coordinator at VIDA: Women in Literary Arts. He is a co-editor of the poetry anthology Bettering American Poetry (forthcoming from BlazeVox books), and his work appears in or is forthcoming from Apogee, The Café Irreal, Buffalo Almanack, Vannevar, American Book Review, The Poetry Foundation’s Harriet blog, and elsewhere.