@ The Cafe (I) For Jorge Brandon „El Coco Que Habla" (1902-1995) Poem by Bob Holman

Before the Beginning of Time
When you could rhyme Sublime with Sublime
Because Because was a gag
In the mouth, a laughing flag
In the Land Where The Coconuts Talk
Where to move was to dance was to walk
Where sing would answer seek
There Jorge stayed up all week
To catalog the Beginning of the Scene
That was the Never-ending Dream
"Nevermore!" he'd cackle to Poe
"Wheelbarrows!" to Williams he'd flow
And the Sun's horizon was rising and falling
In oceanic frenzy and crawling
Sandy beaches were deserts becoming
Birds of No Feather were buzzily humming
He enumerated the words
The syllables became birds
Off he flew to the Promised Land
Borincua grew a palm in his hand
His vision was his voice
Your ears had to rejoice
He'd wickedly splinter
the meaning of center
Into atoms of busted dust
and rust and trust
Padre Jorge the Master of Sound
The creation of sidewalks the streets surround
The conductor of trains to reality's brains
The wheelchair of dictionary aeroplanes
This quivering quaver
Piraguero's flavor....

A friend of mines interviewed
Stopped late at Jorge's stoop
The world was Jorge's stoop
Life was Jorge's loop
He circled the block many times
His cries would always rhyme
The patron Saint of the Barrio
The Oldest New Age Jibaro
We cry now on your bier
We thought you would always be here
Your poems are spread over Loisaida
Miky Bimbo beside beside
The poems don't stop Jorge
You did not die yesterday
Roberto Clemente hits home runs
Jorge Brandon the World's Greatest Poem
Wherever I go you have been
I see you there always again