oh i could just eat you all up!

i've no idea what and how some things hit the imagination just so. some things simply do. last year daniel f. bradley linked to a story about a mexican poet who was just arrested for cannibalism. jose luis calva zepeda was a real freak who killed his girlfriend and when the police arrived at his mexico city apartment to investigate her disappearance found zepeda with a bowl of what appeared to be human flesh flavored with a bit of lemon juice.

now, i'm quite aware that there is a real victim and zepeda is the source of an unbelievable amount of pain for her friends and family. murder is a base, unforgivable evil period. and yet, the story of zepeda i find compelling. he's a poet and horror novelist who earned pesos by hawking his self-published books on the weekends. photos of him show a hauntingly good-looking man with greying hair. he was interested in the occult and identified with the character hannibal lector as portrayed by anthony hopkins.

here is an english language wikipedia article about zepeda:

Calva's childhood was traumatic. His father died when he was two, and his mother used to bring men to his home whom the boy had to call "dad". When he was seven, he was raped by a 16-year-old friend of his older brother.[3]

He met the woman who would become his wife and mother two of his children, Aide, in 1996. They divorced and she moved to the United States with their daughters. He sunk into a deep depression.[3]


Arrest
In October 2007, forces of the Federal Preventive Police went to Calva's home to arrest him under the suspicion that he was responsible for the disappearance of his girlfriend Alejandra Galeana, who was last seen on October 6.[2] He was found eating a dish of human meat seasoned with lemon. Calva tried to escape by jumping through the window, severely injuring himself, but was captured.[4]

Inside his flat, the police found the mutilated body of his girlfriend, human meat in the refrigerator, a frying pan with cooked human flesh and human bones in a box of cereal.[2] Aside from that, an unfinished book titled Instintos Caníbales o 12 días[4] (Cannibal Instincts or 12 days) and a picture of Anthony Hopkins portraying Hannibal Lecter were also found.[2]

Calva's is the first case of cannibalism reported in Mexico for almost 500 years.[4]


Death
In the early morning hours of December 11, 2007, the body of Calva, who apparenty had committed suicide between 6:00am and 6:30am, was found hanging by his belt from the roof of his prison cell.[1] No suicide note was found.

perhaps i find this story so interesting because he is the OTHER and a poet who made the metaphor of 'the word made flesh' literal. utterly disgusting and fascinating.

a very informative spanish-language blog about zepeda is here.

thinking of writing a series of poems about zepeda i asked jim mccrary to help in my project. he wrote a couple of poems and i wrote a couple of poems then the project went flat. here is one of my contributions:

sketch of zepeda as dr hannibal lector as played by sir anthony hopkins

the mind is a mask over the face
desiring and possession upon the threshold
writing the novel of the flesh

love quits its stations
i will watch you increase
the dreamer dreams of dreaming

you will make me cum without heat
i am hunger without knowledge of hunger
instruments sharpened into a tune

i can make you shift into shapes
become heat and nutrients
flesh of the novel read by candlelight

quietly now no one can hear us
open your heart
for you are sweet to the taste

why i find this story so compelling i haven't a clue. i can try to factor them out i suppose. instead, i find myself thinking of zepeda again and my project of a series of poems about, among other things, poetry, metaphor, the OTHER, identity and so on. like many of my ideas some become fact while many others remain as ideas in my moleskin.

boo