ma says bafroom when she doesn’t say baño
¡betty good! at a mediocre drawing from art class.
abuela no espeek the english she was taught at thirty
porque no se lo quiere gastar y le cuesta mucho hablarlo¹
taught me to say mudder tro-que under my breath and
start my speeches with lacies and genselsmen.
abuelo shatters the social construct of pronouns,
when referring to my brother he asks       ow chi doin?
though still, it was him who once told me
“boys have penes and girls have boginas.”
pa speaks english good, like the americans he sometimes
badmouths in spanish       his only accento a boston one,
saying fahhhk you       him and my tias all buy paper toilet
and ask if you likeded their food after you clear the plate.
my brother confused       recibo and receta²
a patient didn’t get their prescription.
i once asked my sister if she was embarazada,
she was just embarrassed       once
she told cousins in Puerto Rico that she was diecicinco.
my first girlfriend laughed cause I say bew-dul, not byur-oh³.
in french class they told me my accent sounds slavic,
but I’m puerto rican       i have trouble with my Rs

in elementary school while they were doing division
i was in a closet called ELL, dividing words into readable
components       telling the tutor
            the kite is a bove the kids play ing
            the ball is be low the sun ny sky.
once in that room me meé encima,
and left a charco de orina on the chair⁴

a puddle like the sea traversed
a day before the birth of whatever
language my family speaks now

and prepositions were the first words to tell me
that I was a flamboyán
among red maples⁵.

–