
A Barrio Tour
By: Abe Sierra Jr.
Bienvenidos Al Barrio
Where I'm From We Have...
Sky-Scraping Little People
Towering On Street Corners Like Lamp Posts
Lighting Up Alleyways Littered With Contradictions
Men Slowly Blinded
By The Dim Glow Of Their Own Make-Believe Shine
Women Going Deaf
From The Resounding Fabricated Facts
That Are Whispered To Them Daily
And Mutes Who Speak Fluently
Muted Not By An Absence Of Voice
But By Society's Inability To Hear Them
Around here
We Have...
Grown Infants
Nursing Newborn Parents
The Lazy Working Energetically
While The Laborers Sleep
Addicts Now Sober
Advising Their Intoxicated Sponsors
And Local Gangs
Protecting and Serving While The Police Are Thuggin' It Out
But It's Not All Bad Though
Here We Also See...
Poets
Painting Pastel Portraits
Graffiti Artists
Editing Elaborate Eulogies
Veteran Teachers
Graduating Into Students
Their Minds Fed By A Class Of Starving Children
And Intellectuals
Illiterate Yet Facilitating Pop-Up Philosophy Sessions
Where I'm From Paradox Is The Norm
Yeah It's A World of Its Own
And To You This Might Seem Confusing
Or Perhaps Even Amusing
But To Me
It Just Feels Like Home...
