FLORICANTO ISSUE Odilia Galván Rodríguez   LOS SANTOS GITANOS* For workers everywhere, to all farm workers, factory workers, restaurant and hotel workers, and yes our soldiers—especially all those who believe that their only alternative to working for drug dealers or drug cartels is signing up for military service... metal tongues caught and squeezed in two hands gypsy woman catches the wind rushing through valleys across this nation  hot earth gasping   we inhale   sighing        our deep breaths escape in your sweet bellows gypsy man play our songs bleed out our tears            shout about torn hands     ripped by their crowns of thorns stuck in the white                        cash crop  we’ve picked the pieces endless miles that never stop pounds carried on our stooped backs   held in the downy soft canvas bags snaking long behind us in rows we chop   chop chop            an eternity     like picking lice  from  children’s  heads  we cry   the shame   all our pain is screamed out in your songs gypsy woman play it            say it’s okay to wail   roar out the bad winds             that catch in our throats     los llantos want to escape and they leap            free from our newly parted chests  we  are  reflected in the songs  of  these  saints      .........who follow us   like   guardian  angels           ...........from  camp  to camp   singing  and            ..............playing  out    our  inner    most              ................hopes    our dreams  offered up                  ..................sheer  sound      shouted  long                   ..................loud enough   to  reach  heaven               .............blow open the  gates    and  there              ..............are  no  harps    just  the caterwauls           ..........these      gypsies      always          played           on  their     live        breathing  ....squeeze    boxes  *The Gypsy Saints Odilia Galván Rodríguez has been involved in social justice organizing and helping people find their creative and spiritual voice for over two decades.  Odilia is a moderator and one of the founding members of Poets Responding to SB 1070.  She also co-hosts "Poetry Express" a weekly open mike with featured poets in Berkeley, CA.   Published in Volume 13, Number 1, Winter 2012.