Hymn to Vatos Who Will Never be in a Poem
by Luis Urrea
All the vatos sleeping on hillsides All the vatos say goodnight forever All the vatos loving their menudo All the vatos faith in la tortilla All the vatos fearing the alarm clock All the vatos Wino Jefe Peewee All the vatos even the cabrones All the vatos down por vida homeboys All the vatos using words like ranfla All the vatos who woke up abandoned All the vatos not afraid of their daughters All the vatos arms around their sisters All the vatos talking to their women All the vatos granting their foregiveness All the vatos plotting wicked paybacks All the vatos sleeping under mota All the vatos with tequilla visions All the vatos they call maricones All the vatos bleeding in the alley All the vatos chased by helicopters All the vatos dissed by pinches white boys All the vatos bent to pick tomatoes All the vatos smoked by Agent Orange All the vatos brave in deadly classrooms All the vatos pacing in the prisons All the vatos pierced by needle lightning All the vatos who were once our fathers All the vatos even veteranos All the vatos and their abuelitos All the vatos proud of tatuajes All the vatos carrying a lunch pail All the vatos graduating law school All the vatos grown up to be curas All the vatos Jimmy Spider Tito All the vatos lost their tongues in Spanish All the vatos can't say shit in English All the vatos looking at her photo All the vatos making love till morning All the vatos stroking their own hunger All the vatos faded clear as windows All the vatos needing something better All the vatos bold in strange horizons All the vatos waiting for tomorrow All the vatos sure that no one loves them All the vatos sure that no one hears them All the vatos never in a poem All the vatos told they don't belong here All the vatos beautiful young Aztecs All the vatos warrior Apaches All the vatos sons of Guadalupe All the vatos bad as a la chingada All the vatos call themselves Chicanos All the vatos praying for their children All the vatos even all you feos All the vatos filled with life eternal All the vatos sacred as the Sun God All the vatos Flaco Pepe Gordo All the vatos rising from their mothers
