Mami sits in the kitchen
surrounded by dirty dishes
pen in hand
she traces the alphabet
her goal is to one day be able to make words
letters don’t sound the same on this side
She wants us to talk to her in english
we turn on the tv
watch movies
as she tries to make out the sounds into words she can understand
“¿Que dijo?”
We get mad
ask her to let us watch without buggin’
Why does she want to be American so bad?
Mami goes to school at nights
after step dad comes home from work
she leaves food warm on the stove
walks 5 blocks
sits in a metal chair
allows her tongue to dance with new sounds
She has a notebook filled with words
Cat. Dog. Red. Blue. House. Sky.
after she is done cleaning she sits
and turns the pages
“¿Gordo, como se escribe, excuse me?”
Mami can bug so much sometimes
Why does she want to speak stupid English?
“I Love You” she writes in a birthday card
her crocked handwriting let’s me know how much effort she placed into the words
a 20 dollar bill neatly folded into the card
“Un dia voy hablar ingles como tu.”
Mami has dreams but she also has us
and with us comes obligations and less time for herself
She comes home with a certificate in hand
“Congratulations on the completion of English 1”
doesn’t tell anyone
simply places a magnet over it and leaves it on the fridge
Afterschool we run home
abruptly open the fridge door
the certificate falls on the floor
It’s just a piece of paper anyway?
We try to teach her little words
but patience is thin
and we rather play kickball
we are kids not teachers or translators
At the local school
they cancel the parent english classes
“No funding,” the superintendent said
Mami is sad
but happy that she has learned enough words to make sentences
She gets a job at Subway
that means less time at the house
more time away from us
more time to herself
more time to make conversations with people that are not bratty kids
She learns
what tomato, lettuce, onion are
she learns how to pronounce
“Thank you very much, have a nice day.”
Mami wants to learn english so bad because she wants to be like us but it is not as easy for her
Why Can't she be happy being without translation besides mami doesn't sound the same in English
