Where do you live?

 
eagle rock.
Huh? What kind of name is that?
And where the hell is that?
well, it’s about ten minutes north-east of downtown
not quite in east los, still part of l.a.

it is where the conquistadores’ subjects reign
permeating the concrete Aztec jungle
con carnicerias y nanay gloria’s fast food
and maria’s gift shop and the bombay market
all threads of the faux onyx weave of colorado and york
and eagle rock blvd. and verdugo.

it is where
the children of delevan and st. dominic’s
migrate on thursdays to the eagle theatre for the $2 movie
as quickly as their mothers and fathers spent pesos for tickets
to travel the gold brick road.

it is where
los jovenes race the streets in rumbling white chariots
with silver wheels that seem to glide on gravel
and soar above the Super A Market.

it is where
lolas and abuelas shaded by pink-orange flowered umbrellas
walk in the sign of the crosswalk.

it is
a village beneath the rock
of a tribal ancestry that transcends the 134

and i can still hear the drumbeat echo.

      Patricia E. Literte