Culture Shock
Today, in Times Square, Native American musicians that were performing on the underground passage way smiled at me. I was standing there listening to their music, a bystander along with a few others. But as I was going to walk away and follow along in my friends' path, one of them steps away from their mic and approaches me.
"What tribe is your family from?" He asks me.
At first his words did not register in my mind, and I lamely replied with a simple; "Excuse me?"
He goes on to ask his question once more and adding while pointing to his forehead,, "You have the look of my people."
Nodding my head I remember somewhere along the line being told I was part Native American but not remembering which tribe it actually was. I don't think anyone in my family still remembers that little bit of information. So I just told him I'm part Native American, but I wasn't sure what tribe.
He smiled and took hold of my hand anyhow, and looking into my eyes he said: "Do not forget your ancestors."
Since that moment I was curious to what race I say I am. For someone like me, a mix breed,
30% Argentinian,
20% Puerto Rican,
20% Native American,
10% Irish,
10% German,
100% Confused and 200% Ignorant,
It becomes a battle to simply know where your grandparents come from or where to put the check in th box.
For it's not only the adopted child that struggles with identity but their following family.
I'm a Latina that knows no lick of Spanish,
A Native America without a tribe,
An Irishman by liver
And German by recessive genes.
We declare ourselves American, but really there is no such things.
We are other cultures held together by one massive piece of land.
And as I road the train home that day, I wished I had asked the man,
"What tribe are you from?"
Comments
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ultrabookworm
Geez, I really envy your prose style. I love its sense of brevity and humor. You could probably make a good bit of money selling bits like this to writer's magazines, or maybe you could even compile some of these into a lovely memoir. And I love the message! It's maybe not uber-patriotic or anything, but it is true.
I was puzzling over how someone can be 30% a race, but don't change it or anything! It helps achieve that really fluid sense of humor that professional writers have. I thought the whole thing was wonderful, and... I may need to spam a couple more of your writings before I'm through here :) Really excellent!
RebeccaYSPerez
Hey Bookworm! Thanks for checking out one of my poems! (Can't wait to see what you think of any others.) Though I would love to see how selling these to writing magazines might go- sounds like a cool way to get my writing even more out there- I am perfectly content as long as I know people can read it and see it.
The percentages I got for this poem I sort of used the whole grandparents ancetrial brackets to determine the amount I should place. It was a wierd process and honestly, sometimes I get myself confused, but I think I would keep it that way to not only steer clear of further confusion but the flidity is better this way.
Thank you so much for commenting! It means the world to me!
Becca.
MythicalFishPen
Not sure how I missed this on my first pass of your work, but I completely agree with UltraBookworm's appraisal. Your prose style is very fluid and clever!
A good friend told me fairly recently that only poets write their prose in such a way that you forget that the narrator is there; the use of simile, metaphor, hyperbola, any other literary device, is seamlessly integrated, and reading their works comes naturally, unlike with some authors that take a bit of time to get used to, you know?
Grant-Grey Porter Hawk Guda
Powerful expression. Always let poetry fill your life. Keep expressing your heart.