Divine Plagiarism

A friend told me about this over coffee the other day. We had a really interesting discussion on race and ethnicity, which is what he did his graduate work in. (He's from the Island, and still goes back every once and a while.) One of the great things about friends is sharing things with them that they would enjoy. And it is one of the worst things about unreconciled relationships. I have run across more than a few things in the last year or so that I think would have been a blessing to C. I am sad that I was not able to share those things. Nonetheless, this is an awesome poem. Hope you guys like it.



Child of the Americas - Aurora Levins Morales

I am a child of the Americas,
a light-skinned mestiza of the Caribbean,
a child of many diaspora, born into this continent at a crossroads.
I am a U.S. Puerto Rican Jew,
a product of the ghettos of New York I have never known.
An immigrant and the daughter and granddaughter of immigrants.
I speak English with passion: it’s the tongue of my consciousness,
a flashing knife blade of cristal, my tool, my craft.

I am Caribeña, island grown. Spanish is my flesh,
Ripples from my tongue, lodges in my hips:
the language of garlic and mangoes,
the singing of poetry, the flying gestures of my hands.
I am of Latinoamerica, rooted in the history of my continent:
I speak from that body.

I am not African. Africa is in me, but I cannot return.
I am not taína. Taíno is in me, but there is no way back.
I am not European. Europe lives in me, but I have no home there.

I am new. History made me. My first language was spanglish.
I was born at the crossroads
and I am whole.