PARA LOS POCHOS CHICANOS (FOR MEXICAN-AMERICANS WHO DON’T SPEAK SPANISH)

by Vida Felsenfeld

A black bow tied around my pink tongue
I was wrong to speak English
My best friend’s father shamed me when I was young

What kind of Mexican are you? Words that stung
...not knowing your Spanish!
A black bow tight around my bruised tongue

Shame on you for not speaking Spanish! Tú eres tonta, dumb!
La Señora, execution-ist
A public persecution at Mass when I was young

Four girls played truth or dare, three fingers pointed at one
We dare you to speak Spanish! (bitch-es)
Black bow bursts, bullets explode from my tongue

I’ve come undone! Give me my English to load-up this gun!
I freeze, I squeeze, I aim to please me! - death wish
Tongue in cheek one-eyed peek, BANG! That’s for when I was young

The daddy, the crone, the girls who made fun
hold hands in a grave, done deal-ish
Warning to those who come fuck with my tongue,
Sigo tan loca! as when I was young  

hungry ghost shame rocks / a place of her own
photograph
r.a.d. Leng Leng