HECHIZOSPELLS                

                        

                         Ramsey 1 Prison Farm
                         Summer, 1967


         Otra Vez*


   Otra vez, again
   and again and again, 
   hated words 
   of meskin, damn dirty meskin, 
   can't work, won't work, 
   won't give you nothin' to eat, 
   cotton high, 
   tush-hoggin' con, 
   pues a la madre con la ley, 
   but i won't pick 
   their goddamn goofyass cotton, 
   i'm a city dude, ese, 
   un pachuco del pasiente, 
   and if god had wanted me to be 
   a goldanged damn cotton picker 
   he'd of given me 
   a slow mind, strong back and quick hands, 
   but seeing as how i don't believe in god, 
   society, nor pinches reglas, 
   i'll just pretend 
   to being dumb, 
   a meskin who'll buck and not pick cotton,  
   and lay claim to being hurt, 
   my back was injured, 
   and if that don't work 
   they'll beat the crap 
   right out of my soul, 
   but i don't care, 
   for the judge he said 
   i sentence you, ricardo, 
   to do twelve years, 
   he didn't say a thing 'bout
   rehabilitation through cotton picking.

 * also appeared in Selected Poems