Ekiwah Adler-Belendez – Ⅱ

Motherhood 

 

 

In Massachusetts we call them

“honey”

“dear”

“pumpkin”

or nothing at all.

In Mexico we call them

“my sky”

“my king sun”

“my queen”

“my sweet fatty”.

There are so many expressions

sculpted into secluded geographies

to say:

“I love you”

 

How can I translate the vastness of my love

in a North American college that at best

uses food words to invoke endearment?

 

What would these USA

smart, individualistic college kids think

if, as they listen to their i-tunes

I look at a beautiful girl

and they hear me say

?como estas, mi Corazon?

How are you, my heart?

 

I thought it was enough to be nearly perfectly bilingual

to find a home in this second language

this second country

this long-voweled English tongue.

 

Yet my Latin American spirit

the undulating flower of my prolonged Mexican-Spanish essence

tells me the truth:

 

“You can’t escape it

I am your mamma,

I brought you to light

I birthed the contours of your soul.

 

You must translate your self

into this foreign country.”