this poem is dedicated to Billy Russo, without whom it would not have happened.
and so last night i sat there
with this brother at my side
whispering in my ear saying,
you know, they just don't understand
this commitment to poverty.
I just smiled.
i thought, this commitment to poverty
and the complete comprehension caused
not a few tears to be shed in this
powerful political emotion.
the singularity of it all.
both of us from eastern ghettoes
cast into an expanse so wide.
a universe so unending
this western sky
these pacific mountains.
no, these western white kids
don't know from poverty.
wearing their father's cowboy hats
they were born to this fathomless horizon.
looking at them i wonder,
did they spring fully armed
from the thighs of their fathers?
*******************************************
16 january 1983
--sister species of crow, o.c.
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