Alphabet City Blues….. Being Saved From Sin

We kneel in Catholic Pews

at Immaculate Conception on

East 14th street,

Between Avenue A and First Avenue

Praying to a wooden Jesus

On the cross…….

Our clip-on ties,

Plaid tails, hanging from our necks,

Our penny loafers, pennies shining, on…….

Deep Tagalog-accented priest

blessing us with his Bible-words,

trying to save us from our sinful acts…..

Psalms and Parables

we will ignore when school is done

and we are riding our boards

into the Alphabet City streets…….

Picking fights with other

boys in need of being

saved from all their

Lower East Side

Sins.