Current Favorite Poem As Soundtrack: Orlando Ramirez—"Being a Chicano bores me..."

I Was Crazy Before I Was Chicano



Being a Chicano bores me
It's like getting stuck in the outfield
for five straight innings
without a beer.

Like I said, I was crazy
before I was Chicano.
Now I know nothing has changed.

My friend says that
pretty soon they're going to outlaw
Chicanos.
What am I going to do?
Chicanos have already made an outlaw
out of me.

Having always been
at the free-throw-line of life,
the pressures are just the same
when it's your raza
who are shouting at you to miss.



c Orlando Ramírez
Mango, Vol. 1, Num. 1, 1976