miguel pinero

miguel pinero

"A Lower East Side Poem"


Just once before I die
I want to climb up on a Tenement sky
to dream my lungs out till I cry
then scatter my ashes thru
The Lower East Side

So let me sing my song tonight
Let me feel out of sight
And let all eyes be dry
When they scatter my ashes thru
The Lower East Side.

From Houston to 14th Street
From Second Avenue to the mighty D
Here the hustlers & suckers meet
The faggots & freaks
We’ll all get high
On the ashes that have been scattered
Thru the lower east side

So here I am, look at me
I stand proud as you can see
Pleased to be from the Lower East Side
A street fighting man
A problem of the land
I am the philosopher of the criminal mind
A dweller of prison time
A cancer of Rockefeller's ghettocide

This concrete tomb is my home
To belong
to survive you gotta be strong
You can't be shy less
without request
Someone will scatter your ashes thru
The Lower East Side.

A thief a junkie I’ve been
committed every known sin…
but this ain’t no lie
when I ask that my ashes be scattered thru
the Lower East Side.

I don’t wanna be buried in Puerto Rico
I don’t wanna rest in long island cemetery
I wanna be near the stabbing shooting
gambling fighting and unnaturally dying
and new birth crying
so please when I die…
don’t take me far away
keep me near by
take my ashes and scatter them thru out
the Lower East Side…



Miguel Piñero