Sonnet for 1950

All the kids came rumbling down the wood tenement Shaky stairs, sneakers slapping against the worn Tin tread edges, downhall came Pepo, Chino, Cojo, Curly bursting from the door like shells exploding Singing "I'm a Rican Doodle Dandy" and "What shall We be today, Doctors or Junkies, Soldiers or Winos?" Pepo put a milk crate on a Spanish Harlem johnny pump And drops opened like paratroopers carrying war news. Then Urban Renewal attacked the pump, cleared the slums Blamed Puerto Rico and dispersed the Spies, blasting Them into the Army or Anywhere Avenue in the Bronx. And nobody, but nobody, came back from that summer. Just as Korea was death in service to the warring Nation The Bronx was death in service to the negligent Nation