Since age 2 people have turned their backs on me

All those except for law enforcement of course

They had a plan to make me live in remorse

 

But I am too strong, I love my people too much

To crumble at their command, use incarceration as a crutch

I went behind bars illiterate, and emerged an established writer

Determined to turn my life around, for I was born a fighter

 

Most of my best works are on my memories of prison life

Of being caged like an animal, filled with anger and strife

I am til this day overcoming the traumatization

Because these poems were once real to me, not dramatization

 

I know what it is like to be left for dead

For your only weapon to be the thoughts in your head

And I know I'm not alone in my battle against the world

My fellow Chicanos triumph with my every written word

 

I will help my youth who have nothing but withered dreams

I will offer advice and assistance so they'll succeed

They call me poet of the people, for I share their reality

For I have surpassed the enemies' expectations, increased my capacity

 

for learning, for giving back, for keeping my culture alive

For my people are rich in history, our legacy will survive

Our Julias work hard and they deserve more than credit

Poet of the People, I will live it.. You, my people, won't regret it.