Massiel Beatriz Romero Ballester
Is always the question,
As if to determine my value
They need to place me somewhere else.
It’s a long story, love.
It wasn’t my choice
I was only four
“You’re not from here”
Is what I always hear
I am from every place I’ve been
Still they won’t believe me.
Words they understand slip from my mouth,
And they pretend not to know in fear of looking dumb
“You don’t look like them” they say
“You don’t look like us
either” is what they mean.
I have no songs to sing along
Because I wasn’t taught when I was born
That I should learn the foreign songs.
My skin is not Black
as it should have been
And they are in shock
‘cause they don’t know what to expect from me.
I’m always asked
Where my heart lies
My heart lies in itself
Waiting for my legs
To take it somewhere else.
October 2017
Heart-rending poem about the immigrant experience. It makes us think about those questions we sometimes ask, how inapropriate they can be, how much they can hurt others. The last stanza is simply superb! I can't believe my luck as a teacher!!!
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