[Après la lettre, and for Eileen, who is learning Spanish]
and I wonder,
in what language
am I supposed
to express this
passage?
(what is the pre-position
needed for this question?)
because if we
use lower letters
except of course
for the first person,
is it because we dread
magnitudes, the
grand eloquence of
conquerors and pirates?
it goes without saying
that we no longer know,
no longer know what
language we are speaking,
like wee hours banter,
drunken conversations
with strangers.
“where are you
from originally?”
we learn to ask,
here, visa stamped
on green paper skin.
no Book of English As a Foreign
Language teaches you
the meaning of Coming
From Originally, nor the
tactful fear of offending.
where I was from
people ask de dónde eres,
and those who left forever
dream with coming back or
endlessly talk about the smells
of kitchens and the stories
of grandmothers whose skies
were bluer and of course their gardens
greener, but for some reason
they (we?) are now here, a mix of accents,
skin colors, hair styles and expectations.
But being all together does not mean
we are equal, united, sympathetic.
we rub against each other like
shaken atoms, excited and displaced.
we are concerned with explosions.
in what language
do I dream about this
laboratory of human interaction,
in what language does the
bleeding heart remember to forget?
¿con qué lengua puedo hacer
estas preguntas?
what is the pre-position
needed for this question?
Everything is Connected 