The Boy's Respect

Southside Sunset Poverty stricken pink, purple, orange incognito After chasing down the poor paleta man and taking his stock of Paletas de Limon The Fantastic Four, always together grabbed up their baseball bats and mitts And left me, “Stupid Girl” To play tea and dollies, girly follies “Hey, HEY! Wait for me! I want.. To play too” “Girls Can’t Play Baseball!” Shocked and angry, as if it was the most Sacrilegious and blasphemous thing they’ve heard All day Dirt stained faces, roughed up knees Yucky boy cooties Walking across the street to the empty lot “It’s a MAN’S sport. Your not a MAN. You absolutely cannot play” “Yeah, IsaDORK! It’s against the CODE, the MAN code” “You’ll never understand.” “Go HOME!” Defiant, I followed, watching patiently For my moment “Pleaseeeeee, Frankie, I wanna playyyyyy” Finally, after some whispering among themselves They lent me a bat, pitched it hard And watched me hit it one straight out of the park Open mouths, silence echoed After the scream of the ball ended through the air Smiling at their despair Skipping off, saying “see, I told ya so, I can do anything, ‘Cause girls are better” The day after, the fantastic four became the fantastic Five Always together, inseparable, From me, they never knew what to expect Because from that day forward, I, at last had The Boy’s Respect -Dedicated to Mis Angelitos- Heaven must be sweeter if your there, Guys Miss you, Frankie, Emmanuel, Carlos You left too soon... Amigos para simpre