Ed Rosenthal, "the broker poet" of downtown Los Angeles,
wrote verses especially for Urban Marketplace 2004.
Urban Marketplace, 2004
A poem by Ed Rosenthal
I got off the 110 South at Main and Imperial and drove east
past miles of strip stores and frame houses
till I flew up a ramp into the sky and landed in Southgate
Luis Rodriguez the barrio poet
from East Los Angeles
He calls our city the concrete river
I knew if I passed it
from the Long Beach freeway
I had gone too far
I felt my heart beat. I was getting ready
for something to smack me in my face
Not car lots, Carnicerias and plastic bags.
Then I saw the place from Imperial.
The front had a burnt orange face of cantera stones
like a Zocala in the heart of Quanajata.
A family poured out of a black Cadillac
emptying kids into strollers and grandma's arms.
Mariachi music blasting out of the plaza.
My heels clicked across Imperial to the sounds
and checked out the giant marketplace
with mountains of green and yellow chiles
the beef churringo and chicken on glass shelves
I rode the escalator to the open mezzanine
and saw a yellowed portrait of Zapata
with his carrilleros crossed
over a red and green stand
The black eyes under the black sombrero
with the bullets on his belt
looked over the pottery plates
keeping the flies off the horchata
Then looked across my paper plate
over the tile top tables
and the red pavers
to the crowded plastic seats
facing the statue of the Virgin
that hovered over the music stand
Children in their Sunday best
and gang attire
swelled around the pink fluorescent walls
of the marketplace facade
The seats squeaked with
people leaning forward
for the shrieks of the announcer
and the Mariachi's sound test
As the crowd milled around the kiosk
surrounding the sculpture of
the Oaxacan hero Benito Juarez,
the mariachis made it up to the stand
in black charro suits and red ruffles
in front of the blue Lady of Guadalupe
The concrete river flows through our hearts
We ride the concrete river down
the streets of L.A.
Thru the plazas and the mini-malls
into our homes and gardens
Viva Imperial! Viva el barrio!
Viva el Este de Los Angeles!
Viva Zapata!
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