So far from los angeles,
and yet it is spring
in the metropolis of greater los anchorage
and amidst much talk of
lost languages
and subjugated
minority groups
and there he is
big screened
in hotel lobby, smiling
laying two thick fingers
along crimson stitching
and my television defenses
go down swinging
i am overwhelmed
and Fernando fever
washes over me
so far from southern California
and the decade of my birth
not dodger stadium but
Chavez’ Ravine
and here come the brooklyn
dodgers, settlers making
a wave of deceit and disrespect
in what had become an
adopted home for Latinos
in the city of angels
scouts went looking
for the mexican sandy koufax
to bring peace to the city
found and signed
and all the way
to san fran bay
they rose up in admiration
pride for a brother of color
on the rise
behind the bewildering falter
of a baseball
hurled by an arm and fingers
and a body wound round
and up and uncoiling
back down again
where oh where
are you today
Fernando? following
this day spent sharing
sadness in hopes
of raising up awareness
of great loss, land
and language in Alaska?
more common ground
than one would expect
from Mexico to Alaska,
languages, people, cultures,
and forced relocations
and worse…
screwballs and
history twisting
and diving through
our lives and our
work
hearts and minds
make right by
making right
Look for ESPN Films, 30 for 30: Fernando Nation directed by Cruz Angeles
Jonas Lamb 