Hey! I'm new, so I hope this is the right place to post. :-)
I'm looking for a poem for my debate class that really touched me when I heard it. I don't recall the name or author, or even fragments of the words, but if it rings a bell, or you know were I can find it with this info, I look forward to hearing from you! It's about-
-A Spanish speaking mother who sends her children to an American school to learn English.
-She feels stupid because she cannot understand them and their jokes
-She worries that if they're calling out to her for help, she won't be able to answer or understand them
-i think there was a part about her buying a dictionary to help herself learn some more, but it wasn't working. :-p

If you know anything about this, I would be greatly endebted to yah. :-p

Sounds like it might be something by Gabriela Mistral, but I'm not familiar enough with her work to know for sure. Most of her work is translated, so a quotation might not even help to find the exact poem.


Les

thanks for the suggestion, but I don't think she's the one I'm looking for. Sorry I couldn't be more specific about what I wanted, but it was a poem I heard in a dramatized act about a year or two ago in Jr. High.You wouldn't heppen to be familiar with the traveling group, would you? They did "The Highway Man" and some baseball ones... but it's just not ringing any bells for me! :-p Anyway, thanks again!
-Luna

>but I don't think she's the one I'm looking for


If you don't recall any words from the poem, how can you tell it's not Mistral. She did write about the theme of hispanic (Chilean) mother and daughter, which is why I suggested her work.


Les

Les-

Good heavens, I reread my response, and realized how rude I sounded. Let me apologize for that! So, I actually DID find the poem I was looking for (After thoroughly abusing google and Jeeves), although only part of it was available due to some copywrite resistiction or other. Aparently Poetry Alive! (The traveling group I talked about) is the only available source with the whole thing. I've just contacted them :-) Anyway, this is what I have so far-

-Elena-

My Spanish isn’t enough.
I remember how I’d smile
Listening to my little ones,
Understanding every word they’d say,
Their jokes, their songs, their plots.
Vamos a pedirle dulces a mama. Vamos
But that was in Mexico.
Now my children go to American high schools.
They speak English.
At night,
They sit around the kitchen table,
Laugh with one another.
I stand by the stove and feel dumb. Alone.
I bought a book to learn English.
My husband frowned, drank more beer.
My oldest said,
“Mama, he doesn’t want you to be smarter than he is.”
I’m forty,
Embarrassed at mispronouncing words,
Embarrassed at the laughter of my children,
The grocer,
The mailman.
Sometimes I take my English book
And lock myself in the bathroom,
Say the thick words softly,
For if I stop trying,
I will be deaf,
When my children need my help.
-Pat Mora
Thanks again to everyone who was thoughful enough in helping me! And Les, I apologize again. I shouldn't have sounded so harsh.
_Luna

Here's one by Gabriela Mistral, she wrote an entire book of mother's poems:

Little Feet

Little feet of children
blue with cold,
how can they see you and not cover you—
dear God!

Little wounded feet
cut by every stone,
hurt by snow
and mire.

Man, blind, does not know
that where you pass,
you leave a flower
of living light.

And where you set
your little bleeding foot,
the spikenard blooms
more fragrant.

Walking straight paths,
be heroic, little feet,
as you are
perfect.

Little feet of children,
two tiny suffering jewels,
how can people pass
and not see you!

Les

p.s. I realize this probably doesn't help you, but you can see why I could make the association.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/07/2021 04:29AM by lg.

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