Baklava
 
La Madrugada
 
Oatmeal
 
August 4th
 
Where are you going?
 
Sunset Trail
 
Ancestral Crimes
 
Peaceful Here
 
First Day
 
Early Morning Prayers
 
Feline Wisdom
 
Yellow Canyons
 
Edge of the World
 
Silver Weaver
 
Grace
 

 
Richie 

Richie was murdered.
For two dollars and a pager.
Murder is not a game.

Stabbed to death on the corner.
The corner of 19th and Mission
Two weeks before his 15th birthday.

He was on the wrong side
on the wrong day
minding his own business
on his way home from school.
He rode his new skateboard
with a bag full of
books on his back.

Richie was murdered.
For two dollars and a pager.

His mama clutches her rosary beads
and repeats the Our Father. 
She carries
a white handkerchief.
Her heart broke open
the day Richie died.
She cries every day.
Some days when she’s alone
ironing she screams at God,
“Por qué? No hizó nada este muchacho.
Por qué?”

She lives in the Mission 
with her other son
and daughter 
and fears for their lives.

Richie was murdered
for two dollars and a pager.

Murder is not a game.  

 Diane Sherman   /   1999