Hail Cesar!

Hail Cesar!

Chavez that is

who art in Heaven

this prayer’s

so you can look down

upon your children

If you se Martin around

Luther that is

not the one tu madre

would say is

named after the devil

tell him there’s

some work

to be done

down here

Brown and Black

chiquillos

needing your love

and protection

not getting a

good education

still

Ay what a disgrace

and a shame

after all that struggle

and your protests and

marches for

social change

Hail Mary!’

Guadalupe that is

the brown virgin

of Mexico

Mother of the poor

and the disposessed

If you’re into cooking

these days

why don’t you have

these two santos

over for some bean,

maybe some rice

and a little miracle-making’

you know

a little alphabet soup

and send some leftovers

down in a tupperware of

inspiration

You know what I mean

for the locals

of the Southwest

No, not the locos y locas

that’s locals,

the grass roots activists

who get so tangled up

in nets of laws, politics,

lies and mutual distrust

and when you’re through

and having your cafecito

and conversation

Won’t you send us a vision

for your children

who keep lighting those

candles of hope

So Hail

Holy Trinity

symbols of humility,

poverty and dreams

Assuming for a moment

that life and death

are separated only by a thought

I have one here for y’all

in this petition

which is resting on

a wealth of documented

evidence that indeed

el trabajo is not over

In the name of the

fathers and the mothers

and the children who

deserve a hulluva lot better

Amen.