E Xavier poem

AMERICANO

by Emanuel Xavier

I look at myself in the mirror

trying to figure out what makes me an American

I see Ecuador and Puerto Rico

I see brujo spirits moving across the backs of Santeros

splattered with the red blood of sacrificed chickens

on their virgin white clothes and blue beads for Yemaya

practicing religions without a roof 

I see my own blood

reddening the white sheets of a stranger

proud American blue jean labels on the side of the bed

I see Don Rosario in his guayabera

sitting outside the bodega

with his Puerto Rican flag

reading time in the eyes of alley cats

I see my mother trying to be more like Marilyn Monroe than Julia De Burgos

I see myself trying to be more like James Dean than Federico Garcia Lorca

I see Carlos Santana, Gloria Estefan,

Ricky Martin and Jennifer Lopez

More than just sporadic Latin explosions

More like fireworks on el Cuatro de Julio

as American as Bruce Springsteen, Janis Joplin,

Elvis Presley and Aretha Franklin

I see Taco Bell’s and chicken fajita’s at McDonald’s

I see purple, blue, green, yellow and orange

I see Chita Rivera on Broadway

I am as American as lemon merengue pie

as American as Wonder Woman’s panties

as American as Madonna’s bra

as American as the Quinteñero’s, the Abdul’s, the Lee’s,

the Jackson’s, the Kennedy’s

all immigrants to this soil since none sound American Indian to me

as American as television snow after the anthem is played

and I am not ashamed

Jose, can you see . . .

I pledge allegiance

to this country ‘tis of me

land of dreams and opportunity

land of proud detergent names and commercialism

land of corporations

If I can win gold medals at the Olympics

sign my life away to die for the United States

No Small-town hick is gonna tell me I ain’t an American

because I can spic in two languages

coño carajo y fuck you

This is my country too

where those who do not believe in freedom and diversity

are the ones who need to get the hell out