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Neighborhood of could-be artists
who plied their talents on the pool's
bath-house walls/intricately adorned
with esoteric symbols of their cult:

[[image]] [[image]] [[image]]
LOWER EAST SIDE EL NUFO C/S 2-TIMER
"TAPON" 13 LA LOMA
LOVE LA CARRIE

the art form of our slums
more meaningful & significant
than Egypt's finest hieroglyphics.

Neighborhood where purple clouds of Yesca
smoke one day descended & embraced us all.
Skulls uncapped - Rhythum n' Blues
Chalie's 7th St. Club
loud funky music / wine spodee-odees/ barbecue & grass
our very own connection man: big black Johnny B-

Neighborhood of Reyes' Bar
where Lalo shotgunned
Pete Evans to death because of
an unintentional stare
and because he was escaudra,
only to end his life neatly sliced by prison barber's razor.
Durán's grocery & gas station
Güero drunkenly stabbed Julio
arguing over who'd drive home
and got 55 years for his crime.
Ratón: 20 years for a matchbox of weed. Is that cold?
No lawyer no jury no trial i'm guilty
Aren't we all guilty?

58

Indian mothers, too unaware
of courtroom tragi-comedies
folded arms across their bosoms
saying, "Sea por Dios".

Neighborhood of my childhood
neighborhood that no longer exists
some died young - fortunate - some rot in prisons
the rest drifted away to be conjured up
in minds of others like them.
For me: only the NOW of THIS journey is REAL!

Neighborhood of my adolescence
neighborhood that is no more
YOU ARE TORN PIECES OF MY FLESH!!!!
Therefore, you ARE.
LA LOMA - AUSTIN - MI BARRIO - 
i bear you no grudge
i needed you then...identity...a sense of belonging
i need you now.
so essential to adult days of imprisonment,
you keep me away from INSANITY'S hungry jaws;
Smiling/ Laughing/ Crying.

i respect your having been:
my Loma of Austin
my Rose Hill of Los Angeles
my West Side of San Anto
my Quinto of Houston
my Jackson of San Jo
my Segundo of El Paso
my Barelas of Alburque
my Westside of Denver
Flats, Los Marcos, Maravilla, Calle Guadalupe,
Magnolia, Buena Vista, Mateo, La Seis, Chiquis,
El Sur, and all Chicano neighborhoods that
now exist and once existed;
somewhere..., someone remembers.....

14 Sept. '69
LEAVENWORTH