A Rose in Spanish Harlem
Three Characters in One:
East Harlem – Spanish Harlem – El Barrio
© By Alberto O. Cappas

There is a Rose in Spanish Harlem
Hiding in exile until it becomes all clear
A community
Divided unto itself by itself with itself
While other cultures make themselves at home
We stay inside
Like Lobsters in a barrow
Managed by a social service over-dosed mindset
Cultural Centers keeping Boricua in the past
Preaching a strategy of outdated liberated emotions
Perpetuated by poets with words that erase
Possibilities of moving a new generation forward
Colonial chains still in full operation
A living electronic field of rappers and poets
Adding confusion to the meaning
A community consuming, not providing
Electing misguided egos into public policy positions
Cementing the fate with physical evidence:
Babies coming from babies
The young echoing the “N” word as a daily sweet diet
Tattoos carved on human bodies transformed into walking billboards
And slacks placed below the waist line as something very cool

As the poet
Pedro Pietri said,
It is time to visit
“Sister Lopez” again
“The number one healer”
And pray that the spirits
Would heal and guide us out of
Ignorance and bondage
Giving us the wisdom to build
A new Spanish Harlem
And Liberate the Rose

Rise Puerto Ricans
Rise Puerto Ricans
Rise!