20 Years

In the Presence of the Damned

by Luis Rivas



(page 3 of 3)


“All right, I’ll make sure she gets it.”

“OK, well, see that you do and tell her to call me.”

“Will do. Take care.”

“You too.”



The clerk came back to the counter and suggested that I open it to make sure it isn’t something gross like a dead rat or a bag of shit. I thought twice, opened it up and found a sloppy love letter and a CD of a girl playing American patriotic songs on the violin.

If somehow the world survives in spite of its continuation of economic cannibalism, of global empires expanding, of soldiers and civilians being maimed and killed in the process of imposed wars of “democratization;” if global warming is indeed the biggest and greatest liberal conspiracy, and capitalism learns to regulate and fix itself and I am still here in 20 years, it’s good to know that when I roll into a strip club, crippled, insane and covered in piss, that I will be greeted with the same amount of arrogance and hate; and I will be honored of being in the presence of the damned.


About Luis Rivas


Luis Rivas lives in Los Angeles, California. He was a telemarketer, construction worker, flower delivery driver, fast food cashier, sales clerk, non-profit canvasser, adult store and strip club manager and package handler/zip code sorter. His work has appeared in the following publications, some of which he contributes to regularly: Zygote in My Coffee, Unlikely Stories, My Favorite Bullet, The Hold, Cherry Bleeds, Corium, Rural Messenger Press, Thieves Jargon, Origami Condom, Outsider Writers, Full of Crow, Counter Punch, Gloom Cupboard, where his is Poetry Editor and Red Fez, where he is author of the Last Days of Los Angeles column. He dropped out of Los Angeles Valley College where he was studying journalism to work full-time at a porn shop. Then he got fired. Now he has gone back to school, continuing his studies in journalism and Chicana/o Studies at California State University of Northridge and Los Angeles City College. He is currently building up his own literary website, peaceisillegal.com and plans on publishing a book on his youth. Once upon a time, he grew a beard. (There is evidence on the Internet.)