South

Revisando cosas escritas en un viaje apareció esto.

Filadelfia desde atrás

they call you

America

that they do

but you are

just a part of it

a big one I grant.

I come from its other

end

way down

South.

I am going

South

now

too

from that center of evil

of New York

to the queen of the South

the princess

perhaps.

New York disappears fast

underground we go

and emerge somewhere

where us tourists don't go.

First stop is Newark

New Jersey

and I think of my Roth

in the bag

will I take it out tonight?

or shall I sleep

as I move

South.

In Newark I think of

Roth

his Jewish Newark

with its industrial decay

and quite soon I see it

myself.

I see its unkempt backyards

with their campers and cars

I see abandoned factories

red brick on red brick

the Industrial Revolution

itself

gone under

the sun starts to come down

as I continue

South bound

America has no binds

America lost its straps

America means an unbound ride

away from the past

this New World of promise

we had that too

well to the South

in my side of town.