Poem by Martín Espada
We’re now officially in an election year so I think this poem needs to come out in honor of what we’re about to endure…
Revolutionary Spanish Lesson
By Martín Espada
Whenever my name is mispronounced,
I want to buy a toy pistol,
put on dark sunglasses,
push my beret to an angle,
comb my beard to a point,
hijack a busload of Republican tourists from Wisconsin,
force them to chant anti-American slogans in Spanish,
and wait for the bilingual SWAT team to helicopter overhead,
begging me to be reasonable.
I gave this poem to my friend Ligia (pronounced Leeee-hee-a) last year because I know she often felt like this when people at our job either mispronounced her name, or worse, didn’t refer to her by name at all because they either (1) couldn’t remember her name, or (2) were afraid to mispronounce her name, or (3) weren’t even aware that they didn’t bother to refer to her – or anyone they deemed of lesser importance than themselves – by name.
A lady at our church died this week and in her obituary she wrote… please make donations to any organization that will work to elect a democrat to office this year! What a way to go!
KE
anonymous said this on January 4, 2004 at 1:27 pm |
Wonderful! I am always happy to see poetry connecting and affecting people. It’s also nice to see people reading my lil’ blog – I used to put out ‘zines and I think I’ve gotten more identifiable, written responses to this blog in the last three days than I ever got to my ‘zines. I hope your friend likes the poem.
realsupergirl said this on January 4, 2004 at 3:26 pm |
Great poem. Glad you shared.
melissa_maples said this on January 4, 2004 at 4:40 pm |
I’ve missed seeing you around Boston. Any chance you’ll show up at The Lizard anytime soon, or shall I head over to The Milky Way for The Amazon Slam?
akamuu said this on January 5, 2004 at 10:55 am |
Great poem, that.
Pronouncing people’s names correctly is a simple sign of respect. Fuck that up without just cause, and you’re already down two strikes in my book.
Nice to see you here, by the way…
Tony B
radioactiveart said this on January 5, 2004 at 11:00 am |
Thankyou. Wow, people are welcoming around here!
realsupergirl said this on January 5, 2004 at 11:15 am |
Aren’t we, though?
But there may be a reason for this…Someone we know has identified you as a friend of ours who dropped out of sight a while back…and that’s why folks are dropping in to say hi.
So….is this Eve Stern?
radioactiveart said this on January 5, 2004 at 11:17 am |
I’ve been meaning to get back to the Lizard again soon. Maybe next weekend…
realsupergirl said this on January 5, 2004 at 11:17 am |
No, no, this is not Eve Stern. Sorry…
realsupergirl said this on January 5, 2004 at 11:18 am |
LOL!!!!
Well, if you don’t mind, I’ll keep you on as a friend anyway. Any one who quotes Martin Espada is a friend in my book!
Tony Brown
radioactiveart said this on January 5, 2004 at 11:21 am |
OK!
realsupergirl said this on January 5, 2004 at 11:23 am |
How funny! I thought you were kidding at first, based on your response to akammu. Notice he’s now deleted the post announcing you were Eve Stern. Sorry about the mixup.
Welcome to LJ anyhow!
loudpoet said this on January 5, 2004 at 1:58 pm |