Update! Hear firsthand of the story that inspired "My Mexicans" as told by my brother Tony Clayton
TonysMexicans.wav
My Mexicans?
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
Exceptionally well written! Your gift of expression is wonderful! I especially like the way you write of that cherry tree in the third stanza, and of course, of family feelings in the rest of the poem.
I think this is well-expressed, HB. We ought to live as one throughout the world. If there were no exploitation, there would be no one starving. Thank you. Love and peace,
Regis
Reviewed by Elizabeth Taylor (Reader)
Reviewed on February 27, 2007
While I can admire your skill with words and your ability to elicit empathy for the poor downtrodden illegals breaking our laws, I can tell you don’t live in a border state.
4000+ illegals every single day breach Arizona borders big as you please, bringing their crime, their kids, and whining for entitlements. I live less than two miles from I10 and gunshots are heard every day.
A surging illegal population in the arid Southwest is also straining the supply of water to the point that finished subdivisions out in the middle of nowhere have no water. The growth is adding to a country that represents 4 percent of the world's population but consumes 25 percent of the planet's oil. Politicians are jumpy because they know they’ve done absolutely nothing but saber rattle to stop the influx of illegals and stonewall any attempt to do so. Many of these politicians own businesses that employ illegals, you know, that cheap labor that puts more money in their pockets, while denying even the smallest increase in minimum wage to those workers as they embellish their own wallets with an annual pay raise.
Legal immigrants and ILLEGALS and their sympathizers who flaunt this country’s laws and burden our health care and community services, account for 40 percent of population growth. Excessive births over deaths, in a nation whose population is living longer. It is significantly higher in the United States compared with Europe or Japan. Hispanics from Latin America, by far the largest share of recent legal immigrants, are driving the natural increase here. On average, Hispanic women have more children than non-Hispanic white women. No wonder there is such a backlash against illegals who seriously hamper those who are trying to immigrate “legally.” And shame on those who think it isn’t a problem and support illegal entry and giving the finger to our laws.
It does takes some degree of intelligence to recognize the problem, and that that sympathizers are a large share of the problem.
Those of us who live in border states, and see this everyday, know of what we speak. WE see it every single hour of our every day.
What I think is ironic if not hypocritical is those commenting who wail for "poor Mexicans." Apparently they haven't read the Bible verse, "render unto Caesar." Selective memory, perhaps? And also, casting the first stones of "bigotry" against those who are for LEGAL entry to this country. Shame on you. At least us "bigots" follow the law of the country we live in.
But I do admire your way with words. You should be a preacher. But a little more research would do you well.
Yep:As 760 Illegals Mexicanos Gangs -Gang Bangers Rob and Kill You Blind In Los Angeleses Sleazy (California),i.e. I Live Here In Real World...
Too Many You Live in Your Own World...
Credit For Poetic Write...
trask
Reviewed by candy Hossele (Reader)
Reviewed on February 26, 2007
This is so true. There are a lot of Americans that are lazy and want something for nothing. Atleast these mexicans are working hard for a living.
Reviewed by marian Akers (Reader)
Reviewed on February 26, 2007
Well done HB!! You never stop amazing me!! Looking forward to more of your work.
Very powerful lesson here; very well done! We need to learn to overlook the differences and accept people as they are; I am having a hard time with this myself, and it is a daily battle.
A very well written expression of thought, you give credit due to many who strive and strived to live only to provide their families a meal and a home, there are not many who feel the migration of the ones who labor and labored across the fields and within the homes across this great country even deserve to be here....
Pancho Villa would had rejoiced.
The Corona brothers exploited their own so Mr. Preston could do the same with clean conscience.
Then we remember the apocryphal story by Mason Locke Weems of the cherry tree choppend down by Washington, and wonder if Mr. Preston would say "I can't tell a lie, the mexicans did chop down the cherry tree"
Exellent cry in defense of the 5$ an hour peon.
Georg
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Regis
4000+ illegals every single day breach Arizona borders big as you please, bringing their crime, their kids, and whining for entitlements. I live less than two miles from I10 and gunshots are heard every day.
A surging illegal population in the arid Southwest is also straining the supply of water to the point that finished subdivisions out in the middle of nowhere have no water. The growth is adding to a country that represents 4 percent of the world's population but consumes 25 percent of the planet's oil. Politicians are jumpy because they know they’ve done absolutely nothing but saber rattle to stop the influx of illegals and stonewall any attempt to do so. Many of these politicians own businesses that employ illegals, you know, that cheap labor that puts more money in their pockets, while denying even the smallest increase in minimum wage to those workers as they embellish their own wallets with an annual pay raise.
Legal immigrants and ILLEGALS and their sympathizers who flaunt this country’s laws and burden our health care and community services, account for 40 percent of population growth. Excessive births over deaths, in a nation whose population is living longer. It is significantly higher in the United States compared with Europe or Japan. Hispanics from Latin America, by far the largest share of recent legal immigrants, are driving the natural increase here. On average, Hispanic women have more children than non-Hispanic white women. No wonder there is such a backlash against illegals who seriously hamper those who are trying to immigrate “legally.” And shame on those who think it isn’t a problem and support illegal entry and giving the finger to our laws.
It does takes some degree of intelligence to recognize the problem, and that that sympathizers are a large share of the problem.
Those of us who live in border states, and see this everyday, know of what we speak. WE see it every single hour of our every day.
What I think is ironic if not hypocritical is those commenting who wail for "poor Mexicans." Apparently they haven't read the Bible verse, "render unto Caesar." Selective memory, perhaps? And also, casting the first stones of "bigotry" against those who are for LEGAL entry to this country. Shame on you. At least us "bigots" follow the law of the country we live in.
But I do admire your way with words. You should be a preacher. But a little more research would do you well.
Elizabeth
Too Many You Live in Your Own World...
Credit For Poetic Write...
trask
They are ours, these Mexicans, and every other race of our brotherhoood. :) Powerfully penned truths, well done!
(((HUGS))) and love, Karla.
nice work.....Art sun...
The Corona brothers exploited their own so Mr. Preston could do the same with clean conscience.
Then we remember the apocryphal story by Mason Locke Weems of the cherry tree choppend down by Washington, and wonder if Mr. Preston would say "I can't tell a lie, the mexicans did chop down the cherry tree"
Exellent cry in defense of the 5$ an hour peon.
Georg