Nuyoricans Out Of Focus
I
Congratulations! You've been out of focus for one hundred years!
Doesn't that make you feel good about your out of focus self
To not be figured out and left alone to concentrate on how
To keep yourself off the endangered species list on the menu
Of American history from the out of focus view of your living room
Window where the overcast is always present to remind you that
You forgot to pack the sun into your suitcase when you migrated
To the other side of the glass mirror of your inception to stare
At yourself with your eyes closed to the outside world inside
Of your personal opinion on how long ago the universe became
Undecided about the law of gravity only violated as of lately
By experimental Latin Manhattan accents of night school renegades
Who educate themselves in their own authentic spiritual history
Of being on different islands while having a cup of non-American
Coffee early in the morning in Cuban restaurants in Hell's Kitchen
Of manic Nuyorican mental dishwashers who want to be free after
Working hours only! Because the rent has to be paid and the car
Needs a new transmission & the children need high tech sneakers
On the latest cyber layaway conspiracy plan of Miss Uncle Sam!
Who has no tolerance for out of focus immigrants who do not
Want to be figured out anytime soon in the near & distant future
Of our indestructible verbal forest of lost revelations recovered
Recalling the magic of a darkness so great that equality prevails!
And though we were paid minimum wages and some wages
Were higher than other minimum wages It was still minimum wages
Anyway your minimum wages looked at it from all distorted angles:
We became astronauts who conversed with coconuts about legendary
Progressive mermaids who served rice n beans to heads of state
For them to be original with their musical instruments
