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Commissioned for the City of Albuquerque's Public Art Program 35th Anniversary and Urban Enhancement Trust Fund 30th Anniversary. Written by Albuquerque Inaugural Poet Laureate Hakim Bellamy.
lyrics
Sidewalk Society – by hakim bellamy
For the City Of Albuquerque Public Art Program 35th Anniversary and Urban Enhancement Trust Fund 30th Anniversary
We are a sidewalk society
now, deadbolted in
inside four walls of insecurity
lack of community
and lack of street
we were never meant
to be a sit down society
we were born to be the art
of an elevated heartbeat
we were born to be seen
like the splatter of blood, sweat and tear
the artist wears on her dungarees
and his sleeves
the things we visit
touch
and touch us
will be forever present in our memory
ever longer than anything
we've only ever seen on a screen
JUST ASK THE ALIENS!
because from a million miles away
Albuquerque's Wikipedia page is text heavy and woefully underwhelming
so when they welcome themselves to a closer look
Public Art will be the cover of our book
and when Armageddon is at the push of a button
you want every single color inside you on the cover if they’re gonna judge you
when they will annihilate everything that looks the same
if the aliens returned today?
they'd obviously choose here
our state flower is the Aluminum Yucca
and we've been trying to send them Rays of Communication
for more than 30 years
but they no habla New Mex-spañol
and Public Art is the only way to see the shared peace
of our souls
so when we no longer call this space home
these pieces will be the only story told
first, they'll set their sights on the Center of the City
somewhere between the Centennial and 1912
the Solar Arc will mark their radar
and Angelitos de Caridad will act as a lighthouse as well
their Journada will be seeking the Cultural Crossroads of the Americas
just like Oñate
but they will be high technologists with a better map
aiming for the globe between Musical Theater Southwest and the Fish
they won't be confused by old and new Route 66,
you can bet your right foot about that
but when they finally land
beneath the Waterfall of the New Moon
under the Nob Hill Gateway
central lit up like a neon landing strip
they will find us most interesting
1st Star past the Taco Bell
the logical place to land
as at Forms Waiting for Word from Other Worlds
and what they find
will remind them of something
how we Bridge Blues
and an Asteroid Sequence 2
The Floating Mesa
our arroyo of light
that turns Bear Canyon into a constellation at night
they would see how trippy it is
to see themselves in our Triptych
and they'd take a trip
but after a few lightyears on the road
they'd wanna freshen up
they would observe
the elaborate nature of our signposts
that help rain find river
they will know there was once water here
Milky Starfish smoking gun
it will be obvious by the fossils
evidence left by Spike & Alberta's ancestors
tipped off by Los Altos Skateparkers arcing Mountain Waves
ask the Bird Girl searching for water
if they can borrow her eyeglasses
finally oasis
full sprint into the River of Life to bathe...
...and Ow! that hurt!
they will finally find us
a fluidity of life
in their wildest Dreams & Nightmares
at the end of OUR Journey
of Inter & Broken Weaves
finally a Fountain of Peace
and riot
a pool of Alphabet Soup
waterfalling into a puddle of poetry on the plaza
they will finally see us
teach the eyes and touch the spirit
they will finally see us
somewhere between studio and construction
beautifying this ugly
and putting orange cones around the parts of us we want to forget
like César Chávez
when he died with an art book in his fist
they will finally smell us
like dinner time
and Broadway farmworkers coming in from the field
smell us like an airplane
coming out of the armpit of what they call,
"The Lady Liberty of Meso-America"
at the McDonald's across from the McDonald's
at Yale University's UNM Park
at University of New Mexico's Yale Park
they will finally hear this
Living Memorial
because we are nothing more than family lines in this linear park
raised a barely teenage mural
on the Convention Center wall
Matachines & Malinche
purity and everything that is beautiful in this world
we've solemnly sworn
to make our city a landmark
they will do more than finally find us
they can not miss us, here
where the porcupine moon
rises and sets itself on the West Mesa
they will be Cruising San Mateo
once,
twice,
three times an alien
disturbed
at the new ice age or climate catastrophe
that petrified the Humminbird, Toad and Dragonfly...
and, particularly the Coyote with the Woman Inside
pleasantly surprised
that the cats have evolved to three-piece suits
and polite conversation on park benches
familiar,
with the Giant Red Snake
and the life-sized video game in front of Cibola High
that reminds them of cousins and house pets,
respectively
giddy,
at the site of an Elvis Impersonator
and the ribbon in the sky at the Sunport
because radio waves only get longer in a vacuum
and the King and Stevie
been bouncing back and forth off black holes since
the Big Band
and in the end
they will check the Bird of Time Sundial
cause Daylight Savings doesn't exactly "do it" for the rest of the universe
jack the Positive Energy of New Mexico sculpture
that is a perfect fit for the broken Fahrvergnügen on their ship
hard to find a mechanic that works on exports in this part of the galaxy,
if ya know what I mean?
and they will turn the Tri-centennial towers into a slingshot
In order to David and Goliath their spacecraft outta here...
Leaving our legacy in tact for future incarnations...
Well,
minus Tony Dellaflora,
Don Quixote's Suitcase
and a piece of Elizabeth Naranjo Pottery that they took as "souvenirs"
Only,
photographic memory of Presbyterian and Catholic churches
Madonna of the Trail and Guadalupe
as holy sisters of facial recognition
dreams of Water and the Memory of Sky Bear
they will leave us alone
in our backbreaking pursuit to Heal our Garden
with a talking Mona Lisa of Gordon Church
reminding Albuquerque
to speak for herself
define her "identity
beyond constructing streets, buildings, and parks."
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