Say Al--Is that you?

Say Al--is that you?

Someone's sprinklin' water & rose petals
on the baby buddha's birthday
& another millennium has passed
Say Al--is that you?

Someone's sittin' in the sun today
letting slender bamboo leaves fall on his face & body
Say Al--is that you?

Someone's scooped up another bowl of rice
& stirred in some thick gravy from Mary's Cafe
Say Al--is that you?

Someone's boppin' along Post and Fillmore
Between the Korean grocer and the Muslim bakery
Say Al--is that you?

Someone's sweepin' the steps of the Catholic Church
below the statue of Sun Yat-sen at 6:00 AM
Say Al--is that you?

Someone's walklin' with Lou & Oscar
with Shirley & Jeff & Janice & Curtis & Russ
in a strawberry field in Watsonville
Say Al--is that you?

Someone's writin' another poem on ricepaper
& leavin' it on my doorstep--
Say Al--is that you?

Someone's just become a Buddha poet
of the past, present & the future
Say Al--is that you?

Say Al--it is definitely, irrefutably--you.
You are the One, the One and Only
You are the Boss man of the New Asian Nation of Poetry.

You are the tremulous, spiraling blue note
from Fliptown, J-town, Chinatown
from the Fillmore, Agbayani Village, from the Imperial to Yakima Valley
from cannin' salmon in Alaska to stirrin' green tea in Kyushu

You are the man who's found the path to Ifugao Mountain--
right here.

Say it again, say it again & say it again--Al.

Love and Peace, Man
from  your bro--Russell Leong

June 2009

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