with a big knife

in his steady hand

he doesn't want to knife you

he wants to sit on a bench

and carve christfigures

but you won't let him.

stupid america, hear that chicano

shouting curses on the street

he is a poet

without paper and pencil

and since he cannot write

he will explode.

stupid america, remember that chicanito

flunking math and english

he is the picasso

of your western states

but he will die with one thousand masterpieces

hanging only from his mind.

1969

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Lalo Delgado died at the end of July, of cancer. He was a towering figure in the Chican@ cultural and political upsurge of the the 1960s and '70s. Que descanse en paz.stupid america, see that chicano