1. what i like about being Latin@ in America
i used to think the term “AmeRícan” was witty and clever. Introduced to this wordplay by poet Tato Laviera (see full poem below).
I appreciate Laviera’s poem, but today i don’t connect with the term. i’m not happy about the forced removal and citizenship i’m demanded to have because of colonization. because of racism. because of xenophobia, ideas of decency, conquest, murder, rape, and the legacy of oppression that continues.
i dig that i can read poetry and have access to ideas such as these. that i’m not alone when desiring a sovereign homeland and willing to put the work in to make that happen one day at a time.
we gave birth to new generation,
AmeRícan, broader than lost gold
never touched, hidden inside the
puerto rican mountains.
we gave birth to a new generation,
AmeRícan, it includes everything
imaginable you-name-it-we-got-it
society
we gave birth to new generation,
AmeRícan salutes all folklores,
european, indian, black, spanish,
and anything else compatible:
AmeRícan, singing to composer pedro flores’ palm
———-trees high up in the universal sky!
AmeRícan, sweet soft spanish danzas gypsies
———-moving lyrics la española cascabelling
———-presence always singing at our side!
AmeRícan, beating jíbaro modern troubadours
———-crying guitars romatinc continental
———-bolero love songs!
AmeRícan, across forth and across back
———-back forth and forth back
———-forth across and back and forth
———-our trips are walking bridges!
———-strutting beautifully, alert, alive,
———-many turning eyes wondering,
———-admiring!
AmeRícan, defining myself my own way any way many
———-ways Am E Rícan, with the big R and the
———-accent on the i!
AmeRícan, like the soul gliding talk of gospel
———-boogie music!
AmeRícan, speaking new words in spanglish tenements,
———-fast tongue moving street corner “que
———-corta” talk being invented at the insistence
———-of a smile!
AmeRícan, abounding inside so many ethnic english
———-people, and out of humanity, we blend
———-and mix all that is good!
AmeRícan, integrating in new york and defining our
———-own destino, our own way of life,
AmeRícan, defining the new america, humane america
———-admired america, loved america, harmonious
———-america, the world in peace, our energies
———-collectively invested to find other civi-
———-lizations, to touch God, further and further,
———-to dwell in the spirit of divinity!
AmeRícan, yes, for now, for i love this, my second
———-land, and i dream to take the accent from
———-the altercation, and be proud to call
———-myself american, in the u.s. sense of the
———-of the word, AmeRícan, America
AmeRícan, broader than lost gold
never touched, hidden inside the
puerto rican mountains.
we gave birth to a new generation,
AmeRícan, it includes everything
imaginable you-name-it-we-got-it
society
we gave birth to new generation,
AmeRícan salutes all folklores,
european, indian, black, spanish,
and anything else compatible:
AmeRícan, singing to composer pedro flores’ palm
———-trees high up in the universal sky!
AmeRícan, sweet soft spanish danzas gypsies
———-moving lyrics la española cascabelling
———-presence always singing at our side!
AmeRícan, beating jíbaro modern troubadours
———-crying guitars romatinc continental
———-bolero love songs!
AmeRícan, across forth and across back
———-back forth and forth back
———-forth across and back and forth
———-our trips are walking bridges!
it all dissolved into itself, the attemptAmeRícan, walking plena-rhythms in new york,
was truly made, the attempt was truly
absorbed, digested, we spit out the malice,
we stand, affirmative in action,
to reproduce a broader answer to the
marginality that gobbled us up abruptly!
———-strutting beautifully, alert, alive,
———-many turning eyes wondering,
———-admiring!
AmeRícan, defining myself my own way any way many
———-ways Am E Rícan, with the big R and the
———-accent on the i!
AmeRícan, like the soul gliding talk of gospel
———-boogie music!
AmeRícan, speaking new words in spanglish tenements,
———-fast tongue moving street corner “que
———-corta” talk being invented at the insistence
———-of a smile!
AmeRícan, abounding inside so many ethnic english
———-people, and out of humanity, we blend
———-and mix all that is good!
AmeRícan, integrating in new york and defining our
———-own destino, our own way of life,
AmeRícan, defining the new america, humane america
———-admired america, loved america, harmonious
———-america, the world in peace, our energies
———-collectively invested to find other civi-
———-lizations, to touch God, further and further,
———-to dwell in the spirit of divinity!
AmeRícan, yes, for now, for i love this, my second
———-land, and i dream to take the accent from
———-the altercation, and be proud to call
———-myself american, in the u.s. sense of the
———-of the word, AmeRícan, America
No comments:
Post a Comment