Here
Sandra Maria Esteves
I am two parts/a person
boricua/spic
past and present
alive and oppressed
given a cultural beauty
. . . and robbed of a cultural identity
I speak the alien tongue
in sweet boriqueno thoughts
know love mixed with pain
have tasted spit on ghetto stairways
. . . here, it must be changed
we must change it
I may never overcome
the theft of my isla heritage
dulce palmas de coco on Luquillo
sway in windy recesses I can only imagine
and remember how it was
But that reality now a dream
teaches me to see, and will
bring me back to me.
From Yerba Buena, GreenÞeld, NY: GreenÞeld Review Press, 1981. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
2 comments:
Thats what I'm sayin!!!
Beautifully written. No matter our culture, heritage, race or religion - all people should be treated with dignity and respect.
Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. ~ Matthew 22:39
There is no "them", there is only "us"...
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