INCIDENTALLY

Once riding in East 619,

Heart filled, head filled with glee;

I saw an East San Diegan

Straight mad-dogging me.

Now I was twelve, no hable Español,

And he was red boned like koi,

And so I smiled, but he poked out

His tongue, and called me “white boy.”

I saw the whole of East 619

From May until December;

Of all the things that happened there

That’s all that I remember.