Explosion in a Sewer

"And you'll ask: why doesn't his poetry
speak of dreams and leaves
and the great volcanoes of his native land?

Come and see the blood in the streets.
Come and see
The blood in the streets.
Come and see the blood
In the streets!"
-I'm Explaining a Few Things; Pablo Neruda.

Fuck obligatory rhyme scheme
Sometimes life doesn't flow
In the barrio
Except maybe the blood
r u n n i n g
p
o
u
r
i
n
g
from
the s h a t t e r e d skull
of a toddler
formerly at play
on her Abuelita's porch
and presently p u n c t u r e d
by the allegiances
of Lost Angeles to
street signs
with antiquated
European
names.

(Drive-by
the funeral procession
next time).

Remember that, dear Sir,
When you wonder
Why the Mexican students
Don't seem to take to
King Hamlet's ghost
Or the beauty of
Shakespeare's Sonnets.

Perhaps
It has something
To do with
Inferior rhyme scheme?

Or with the c r a c k s
On the concrete
Where Rosita's
blood
s
p
i
l
l
e
d
E x p l o d i n g In a sewer.