Reserve the right to write
under heteronyms
to Pessoa his name
Underscores all the rest
characters as authors
of their own written work
Include my given name
of Portuguese descent
as parcel to the lie
Careers based on fiction
decide the fate one leads
as a Goan the game
American children
play with Non-Resident
Indians like myself
Raised in Huntington Beach
California so far
away from Colva Beach
Lost in America
children play hide and seek
the struggle to touch home
Only to find my way
with a Portuguese name
where native people smirk
Savage smiles behind backs
of foreign-born children
like myself born to spy
Deemed no better than dogs
immigrants born elsewhere
natives kick and we bite
Apparently our tongues
in the face of power held
by those born into wealth
Create power from nothing
nothing but the difference
between persons we teach
Understanding today
not forty years ago
when the streets I did roam
Never lost in this land
your land my land our land
their land for those who come
Home to America
land of milk and honey
in my coffee or tea
Answer me this my friends
when I leave this country
may I without a fight
Seek to return back home
to Hyde Park Chicago
where hands and feet go numb
Running in the winter
over black ice and snow
until my heart is free
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