The little house at the corner of Imperial Avenue and Stockton Street in Barrio Logan reminds me of a person I know. THE HOUSE OF CHARM, combination barber shop and beauty shop, perches on the edge of Barrio Logan...across Stockton street from Christ the King Church with its unsettling statue of Jesus without hands. No amount of painting and name changing hides the fact that the little blue house had humble beginnings, was once a place where real people lived.
THE HOUSE OF CHARM
COMMON PEOPLE

I like common people,
especially the ones who enjoy ideas
along with their meat and potatoes.
The guy talking about his value to mankind
has made himself believe he isn't ordinary.
He was common once but doesn't remember,
and I suspect he is lonely now
for the fellowship of ordinary folk.
Now that he can charge big money
to anybody who spends time with him,
he has a measure for his importance.
He likes the words "charm" and "charming"
and uses them to talk about his house
and his wife and his wondeful life.
He seems unaware, like the emperor in the story,
that he is naked as the day he was born.