Pancho, the barrio idiot. <br />Rumor is that una bruja from Bernalillo <br />le embrujo. Unshaven, chattering <br />and nodding to airy friends <br />that follow him, <br />he roams the barrio all day. <br />I see him at least twice a day— <br />walking on the ditch behind my house, <br />hours later walking across the bridge. <br /> <br />Harmless, la gente leave him alone <br />in his own fantasies, <br />to share his bread with invisible companions, <br />to speak back to voices <br />that brim over from his childhood memories. <br /> <br />I have seen him <br />on all fours in Raul’s field <br />with the sheep. Or last Christmas <br />in the tree meowing like a cat. <br />You always fill my heart Pancho <br />with delight.<br /><br />Jimmy Santiago Baca<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/meditations-on-the-south-valley-part-xxiii/
