CORRIDO BLANCO

Her notebook declares, "if for you fathers
my logos suffers too, (what did Paul say?)
’Mulieres’ You ’in Ecclesia tace-
ant, Top, mujeres en iglesia, you

te nacen, palabrita, tú, mía."
In the schools from Rome, you are born living.
from London too: nace la palabra.
And you become and kill a tongue or two.

Criolla, woman whose words I see, hear,
maestra, teacher, eye and ear and tongue
for me. Here I am one nine year old boy.
No hay razón, sólo poder. Here I

hear, see, palabra suya, "Know: children
be silent in school. No language, or word
or sound you know from homelands. Ameri-
ca, no way to spell it but one. I know."

-Alfred Arteaga

Plate from Berkeley Poetry Walk

More details can be found here Click for the item in The ultimate street signs site