poem by Marcos Andres Flores, Austin poeta

[Marcos also previously served as a volunteer for raul @ Resistencia and hosted the Cafe Libro series there.]

Feb 13, 2008 12:25 PM
Subject: Homenaje a el Profe: Xicano Elder's Passing
Body: March 17, 1934- February 13, 2008- raul salinas

I know i can do better, but this is all i could come up with for now. Words seem inadequate at times like this.
---------------------------------

Something tells me you were there
at Oglala
on that fateful day

at least in spirit

and I don’t know what to say
blood
bout
how it all went down

how all
tha pieces of the puzzle
fit together
jaggedly

but not quite right

hard surfaces
long hearts
calloused hands
equal tattood tear-stained bloodlines

if you look at them right

con los dedos dangling
askina
writing and fighting
to survive

to translate
or better yet
to transgress
the story

only to be heard
coded in a language
some will never be able to decipher

spirit

outstretched
towards Eagle
towards a Freedom
only dreamt about

Como Peltier
And all those years

27 of them

that he has spent
in captivity cave

not to mention
the ones you lost/gained in your youth

Captivating
yet another barrio
another nation’s

remembrance of self/defense

Endurance
in the face
of out right injustice.

Today... Today...

Today… I sing the blues for you
Pine Ridge Xicano Jazz man

Remembering the year we spent
At bookstore
con Rene tambien
as I smile
at the thought

of all those hard-ass lessons
taught out of love

in the name of survival
you left behind
more than a legacy
more than a history
more than a story

it was a gift of self
your return to home
humble
nothing more/nothing less

as you ride on down the road
bien firme
in your pickUP truck

blazing a red trail

A Pachuco Poet

cruising low and slow

towards the height and light of a new dawn and day

One that our generation will have carry on
even in the shadows of waiting time
pero always moving
always fluid
always improvising
on the go

With all the love and all the respect one could muster on a day like this…

nos vemos
on the other side

"Somewhere East of the Freeway."

Marcos Andres Flores
Osten, Tejas
February 13, 2008