Message to Urban Sightseers

by Jesús Papoleto Meléndez

HEY YOU/         sightseer

from smalltown, nowhere, u.s. of a.

bring your head

                             down

            /your eyes off those TALL business buildings

look-a-here sightseer/             sightsee

i’m a sight

            /a sight to be seen by your sore eyes

sure, i’ll be your guide

            /wanna send a friend a picture post card?

here, take this one/                     that’s me/my brothers

                                                my mother/my father

                                                my aunt/my uncle

                                                my sisters/our cousins

                                                & our dog

we all live very near one another/

the same apartment

oh, you think it’s cute

the way my youngest brother sits on our dog?

we don’t.

actually he thinks rover is a horse

no, no kidding

he really thinks rover is a horse

            :he wants to be a cowboy

            i think he’ll be a soldier riding horseback

            on some tank

do you really like the family pose?

it was taken on our fire escape/       it collapsed

just as we all entered the house

                                                        /nobody hurt

but since last summer

the people across the street

have had the ugly view of our apartment

              that there wall is our wall to wall

               nothingness

last winter/       when it snowed

all the kids from the neighborhood

came up to my house and we skied in my livingroom

come on/                sightseer

i’ll take you to my house

you can sit in the livingroom

with your feet in my bedroom

and your elbow in the kitchen

come dinnertime      we all can gather round

the table

the floor

the beds

the fire escapes

the halls

the toilet

the bathtub/      & eat our food

if we run out of plates

we’ll use the dog’s bowl

the ash trays

the rats’ poison dish

the pots & pans

small corners on the table

and our hands      to cup our share

of one thirty-seven cents

can of spaghetti        divided by family

come on/               sightseer

don’t be a fool

take advantage of my hospitality

oh don’t leave/

i ain’t tell you bout me doing homework

while roaches gather round

to get their education/

                                              kind-a-makes me feel

                                              like doctor dolittle

and when we flood the sewers/      turn on the hydrants

and make like jones beach

while junkies        taking people off

so theys can get their daily fed

HEY YOU/         sightseer

from smalltown, nowhere, u.s. of a.

bring your head

                             down

            /your eyes off those TALL business buildings

look-a-here sightseer/             sightsee

i’m a sight

            /a sight to be seen by your sore eyes

by the eyes of the o. e. o.

by the eyes of the world

by the eyes of the stars and moon

look-a-here/                LOOK             LOOK GODDAMNIT

I’M INTERESTING!!!