An icon in this city died Friday.

His name was Abelardo Barrientos Delgado. Everyone knew him as Lalo. He was a poet, a teacher, a gentleman. He was one of the rare few in this town who earned the right to be called a community leader. He dedicated his life to it, to us, Latinos, Chicanos, Mexicanos. ... ...

"His name was synonymous with the Chicano movement," said longtime friend Ricardo LaFore, director of U.S. Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell's Denver office.

"Lalo's name is a thread that runs through the women's movement, the children's rights movement, through the entire human rights movement."

stupid america, see that chicano

with a big knife

in his steady hand

he doesn't want to knife you

he wants to sit on a bench

and carve christfigures

but you won't let him.

stupid america, hear that chicano

shouting curses on the street

he is a poet

without paper and pencil

and since he cannot write

he will explode.

stupid america, remember that chicanito

flunking math and english

he is the picasso

of your western states

but he will die

with one thousand masterpieces

hanging only from his mind.

- Abelardo Barrientos Delgado, 1969