OYE MUNDO / sometimes
sometimes (
when the night air feels chévere!
) when i can hear the real sound
of el barrio
on la conga y timbales
coke bottles
& garbage can tops
when i can feel
& reallyreally touch
la música Latina / africana
& the fingerpoppin' soul
emergin from tears / sweet tears of laughter
& i can feel
a conglomeration of vibrations /
heat waves
body waves
people waves
of real gente
/ & i feel gooooooood
when i can taste the rare culture
of cuchifritos y lechón
chitterlins & black-eyed peas
& corn bread
& la pompa is open
& cooooooools the hot tar
of summer heated streets
where children play
kick-the-can (
& sirens
cannot be heard)
/ sometimes
sometimes
when the last of the ghetto poets
writes of flowers
growin in gutters / & i know it's real
/ sometimes
sometimes / sometimes
when i can almost hear / being echoed back
an answer
to my ghetto cry
sometimes / sometimes
i run up the fire escape / not to escape
& climb on the roof
& stand on the ledge
& look down
& yell out
to the midnight world
below
above
around
within :
OYE MUNDO Tú ERES BONITO!!!
& i forget about the junkies
on the stoop.
Jesús Papoleto Meléndez, "OYE MUNDO / sometimes" from Hey Yo! Yo Soy!: 40 Years of Nuyorican Street Poetry A Bilingual Edition. Copyright © 2012 by Jesus Papoleto Melendez. Reprinted by permission of 2Leaf Press.
Source:
Hey Yo! Yo Soy!: 40 Years of Nuyorican Street Poetry A Bilingual Edition
(2Leaf Press, 2012)
