Nostalgic Nonsense Never Needs Nuance

Today I saw coquito on the train
He came into the doors screaming
Door loiterers was his complain
For people to move into the middle

He looked like the old sailor man Popeye
With a set grin and wrinkles to match
A brown leather pilot hat that rested on his head
And crooked hands that scratch

He mumbled under his breath
To no one in particular only the air
People looked at him with indifference
As if he wasn't even there

I remember as a Corona kid
Begging for 50 cents so I can buy
A juicy red strawberry frio frio
From the shaved icecream cart guy

My lips would turn red
And I pretended it was lipstick
Coquito rang his bell as he left
I waved bye as my ice I licked

Those sticky muggy summer days
With the hydrant working overtime
Lasted longer and sweeter
When Swedish fish were just a dime

Now they suffocate me with endless work
No summer breaks when you have a a 9-5
No school lunch Linkin park adventure walks
No packed sweaty van Sunken beach drives

Light tank tops and cut up jean shorts
Worn chancletas to click clack by
That was the whole seasons wardrobe
It was so chic, so dope and oh so fly

Ashy skin, fuzzy hair, black sole feet
All rules were out the fire escape window
A license to live came with the New York heat
A life of yellow freedom, the pace always slow

The biggest stress was the tiny splinter
On your toe from the wooden floor
But alas the hero a mothers nail clipper
And a father's mop made smooth planks galore

Neighborhood kids would congregate
To devise mischief throughout the town
Torture a cyclist with a sandal-bait fishing pole
Or run marble-staircase races up and down

Betty in front of a church signing the way to safety
The world's best foot dog on my corner street
It was our secret the van that housed our dear Eddie
And of course our personal bodega under our feet

Red warm and crashing electric summer storms
The task was to bring in the hanging laundry
And out went the pot to collect the heavy wet drops
Then in socks and flashlights came a scary story

What a time! What a world!
So small and serene and yet so infinite
June to August the time to explore
The crazy adventures that never quit

And yet they did some time ago
I don't recall exactly when
But I really do truly miss them so
And every so often now and then

A nostalgic flash takes over my mind
On that corner brick stoop I carelessly lay
Memories so sweet never to be left behind
Like Coquitos' frio frio on that warm summers day