'Knowledge From The 'tree Of Life' Could Not Be Taken, nor Harvest Of It's Sweet Fruit Until The Tree Was Shaken' rotms Poem by Ray Lucero

He was born in abject poverty to a mother who was but a child herself.
His father was a wild and raucous man prone to drinking to excess.
Before long it was clear to Lily that she could not stay married to Raymond, so she packed her meager belongings, loaded the old Chevrolet coup and began looking for work.
She eventually found a job as a laundress working for enough money to buy groceries, gas for the car, and pay for child care.
While at work the child was cared for by an old widowed woman in town.
Unable to find a place to live we lived in car on the outskirts of town by a creek that we washed and drank from. After a couple of weeks a man drove by where we were parked and stopped to ask if we needed help. My mother told him we were all right. The kind man would stop by every evening to check on us after working at a nearby mine. He would bring food and drink, as well as candy for the small child.

Eventually Lily and Val were married and moved to San Francisco where he found work at Bethlehem Steel...

Humble beginnings for a humble man, who would later become a poet known as ROTMS