Wearing the Odd Clothes of Exile a Puerto Rican Youth Arrives in New York City and Is Laughed At

Stan Steiner

He undressed his flesh
To wash his bones
To their Sundaysuit best.
He spit into his skull
To polish his eyeholes
To shine like mothballs.
His fingers snapped
To tie a bowtied girl
To his spiney naked sex.
He donned a lemon rind
And squeezed his skin sour
To hide his youth in.