|
Crazy Willie waited near the entrance of Humboldt Park,
motioned for me to hurry.
He ignored my outstretched hand
and fell into step beside me.
"It all started withe the Seven African Gods.
You see, bro', we stopped worshipping
the Seven African Gods."
I was perplexed.
"You're not making any sense,"
I said.
Crazy Willie winked, hummed música de Machito,
but I noticed as we walked deeper into the park --
reality shifted: oaks lengthened into palm trees;
elms -- strangler figs; the gray sky of winter -- turquoise.
"Tú sabes," Crazy Willie said, "cuando we stopped
worshipping the Seven African Dioses,
they turned on us."
Numbed, it dawned on me.
"They got even."
"Pues claro, damn right,
Puerto Ricans were banished
to Chicago."
- Frank Varela
| 
