The Corner of 12th and Chicon

Transitional you may call it these days, the corner of 12th and Chicon
A far cry from its salad days as an out-and-out combat zone
When hardened hookers used to walk the streets barely causing a shrug
And the weary cops turned a blind eye to the open air markets of drugs

Change has been long coming but it creeps up on you all of a sudden
Places betray only faint traces of their previous reputation
Located just a mile from downtown, no wonder there's been gentrification
The inescapable reality of commerce and real estate transactions

Suffice to say in this case, that there has been a whitening
A rebrand now that the corner is no longer so frightening
And as a fitting testament to the changing face of East Austin
On the mural, they painted the face of Bad-era Michael Jackson

Still, the other heroes are there, defiant:
   Bob Marley, Nina Simone and Prince
Thurgood Marshall, James Brown, Sade,
   Sly Stone (or is it Jimi Hendrix?)
The conscience of a certain tribe: Dick Gregory, Muhammad Ali
And, keeping it real, conflicted martyrs like Tupac and Biggie

Throughout, the nearby Eastside Community Church aimed to provide shelter
Modified latterly to host, on their premises, a Pregnancy Resource Center
You never know in Texas, this was ground zero for maternal mortality
Where Barbara Jordan fought for civil rights, they try to preserve her legacy

The last holdouts remain but now no longer have sway
Just a few transients holding on to faded glory days
Rough trade, ambling in the early morning to the liquor store
Passing, as they do, the fresh-faced women out walking their dogs

Lululemon leggings, some carrying their yoga mats, nubile young things
Or the others now heading to work out on the shiny exercise machines
Complicated tributes to physical perfection, elliptical witnesses
On their treadmills to modernity, edifices of health and fitness

The parking lots where the Guinean immigrants would sell African clothes
Trinkets, carvings, dashikis, herbal oils, and the like are now mostly closed
Once their steady remedial work was done, the developers moved in
It's a safe neighborhood now, and on a few plots they've started construction

A couple of desultory food trucks, beasts of burden, now stand alone
On the way to middle school with the 11 year old past 12th and Chicon
No crossing guard here, those who walk these streets are on their own
Eyes wide open, we take it all in. Then a quick hug before I turn and walk home

The Corner, a playlist

A soundtrack for this note (spotify version)

• The Corner by Common ft The Last Poets
• Ital Corner by Prince Jazzbo
  One step forward, two steps backwards on the corner. "Now you are commercial" in Babylon go the lyrics of this upsetter dub joint.
• Street Corner Symphony by Kook & the Gang
• Look Around the Corner by Quantic & Alice Russell
• For Corners by Digable Planets
• Hell is Round the Corner by Tricky
• Blues on the Corner by McCoy Tyner
• On the Corner by Miles Davis

Bonus beats: Street Corner Hustler Blues by Lou Rawls

See previously Inman Square Still Life and Coyote Point

This note is part of a series: In a covidious time

File under: culture, observation, perception, Austin, Texas, race, black, urban, city, gentrification, history, poverty, economics, USA, poetry, covidious, toli

Writing log: August 31, 2022