The soil becomes a tomb, barren as the cherry tree yeilds no more Those who have labored in the sun long since moved on to feed their families
A single ad in the paper CHERRY WOOD FOR SALE and the opportunistic men of my family move in
Long days of butchering this magnificent provider in pieces to be stacked on trucks, I think of the days atop the Massey Ferguson bouncing down geometrically perfect rows Binned fruit for the world
I think of little entrepreneurs selling iced cold soda cans in the blistering sun for a dollar I think of the tomale man Jesus pandering home maid heaven rolled in a corn husk
I think of how this and the next tree will feed my wife and child for the last time, ever loyal from their death beds
I think of family- Not the family that shares my face but the familia that wiped sweat from their brows, laboring with me in the sun for bread
Proud family- who worked tirelessly wishing only to make an honest buck Some from here, some not
I think of the time I picked Jorge's baseball cap up from under a tree It fell but he never followed, steady working Two words embroidered on the front: Chicano Power!
Most of all I think of a bigot and his beautiful winery forty miles from my butchery He was the last delivery from the day before
I refused to stack his wood for five dollars a cord His only reply: "I'll just have my Mexicans do it for five dollars an hour"
This was the day that Mr. Preston became known to my family as "Bigot Bill"
May his soil become a tomb, barren as the grapevine yields no more May those who have labored in the sun for Bill move on and prosper
This is a political treatise that deals with the China issue from a completely new perspective. Disparaging as he may sound, from page to page, toward "the old system" and the Communist Party's various wiles, the author demonstrates his mysteriously
This is a political treatise that deals with the China issue from a completely new perspective. Disparaging as he may sound, from page to page, toward "the old system" and the Communist Party's various wiles, the author demonstrates his mysteriously
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