¡Silencio! Al Robles is missing
It’s way too quiet around here these days & we miss him
This one of a kind poetic daredevil
Transplanted culture personified … Adobo con Bebop
With an awe-inspiring playful impish smile
That always let the best in us know we were at home
Lifting up tradition anytime it lost its balance & tried to fall
Trading the tallest of tales in the park
Conjuring strength in ageless Spirits older than time
Or locked in a musical trance, happy to be completely
Under the spell of a Bobby Enriquez tune @ Bajones
A Pinoy Homeboy on a mission
The strength of his soul reborn with every Poem
A loveable rascal defying description
¡Silencio! Where is he?
Al, the Fillmore Flipster
Stalking creativity with a vengeance
Finding pieces of creativity & truth everywhere
In everything
The eternal essence of intelligent existence
Leading him on, dancing word circles all around him
There were days when none of it made any sense, but
Then it was funny & beautiful, ridiculous or ugly
More than once it was both inspiring & tragic
Historic landmarks in the making, a blossoming
Myth building Poems, tons of Stories needing to be told
And they came pouring down like an unstoppable flood
A furious Waterfall
Out of the mouths of angry misused Farm Workers, and
Found themselves all tangled up in the irony of
A meal of Pilipino Soul Food
With a side of Mangos & Collard greens for dessert
¡Silencio! If you were you listening
You could see the tongue in cheek brilliance in the way
He tasted every word as they rolled out of his mouth
In the way he digested the ambiance of Poems being born
And followed the rhythm of words as they came swaggering
Dancing in the streets of North Beach & Cesar’s Latin Palace
Squashed inhibition & found a good part of his heart in the trance
Of hotter than hot Jam sessions @ Jimbo’s Bop City
Al, a Fillmore Flipster, a clever predictable trickster
The undisputed Poet Laureate of Manila Town
Who comfortably wrapped himself in a mixture of
Smiley Winters, Kulingtang, Flip Nuñez & Sarah Vaughan
¿Silencio? The Muse is in mourning
But there will never be enough tears
To wash away the legacy of his vision
The spiritual pride & integrity of his Poetry
Lives in the resurrection of the I-Hotel
Hides behind the hungry laughter of city slick Hustlers
Is buried beneath stolen visions & the exposure of
Soulless big time urban magicians who sell fantasies
To the disillusioned
His powerful word magic conjured
The reclamation of otherwise unacknowledged young men
Young men who’d left their all a world away
On the other side of a sea of broken dreams
But never forgot to take the time to heal, rejoice & laugh
As they partied, gambled, danced the Cha Cha & romanced
Nights & sore backs away @ the California Hotel
Held up the economy on Columbus & the clubs on Broadway
And almost wore out the pavement up & down Kearny & Grant
Then came to on the same old farms picking fruit the next day
¿Silencio?
NO! There is no sadness strong enough
To erase the hipness of his vision
Al Robles, our Fillmore Flipster, our eternal trickster
Magnificent Manong!
It will never be over & we will not be silent!!!