Tira Flecha
He says It’s not that I’m racist but
why do we keep letting these immigrants in
so they can steal our jobs
Sips his cafe con leche and eyes
the wide hips of the Peruvian waitress
He says They need to put up that fence
so people stop sneaking over the border
Ship back all the illegals already
Scans the headlines of the newspaper
before flipping to the sports page
He says These lazy bastards come over
to live off welfare that I pay for
No skills, no brains, can’t teach them a thing
Answers a work email on his Blackberry
for a client in Santo Domingo
He says When I came to this country
forty years ago, it wasn’t such a mess
but now they let anyone in
Tips the waitress and tells her in Spanish
that she has very beautiful eyes
He says Look at that tira flecha
Bet she just came down from the mountain
She’ll be pregnant and on WIC in a year
Rapidly drinks water from a paper cup
to cleanse his palate, then throws it away
* * * * *
I love the juxtaposition of his viewpoints with his actions. Very nicely done.
Yes like Ganymeder said, it’s the contrast that works so well in this piece.
opinions are like rectums, everyone has one
My ex’s grandmother from El D.F. used to give the same lecture. It’s amazing isn’t it?
Excellent piece, Valerie!
(and your dad’s comment belongs on @ShitMyDadSays)
An absolutely incredible piece of poetry. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it from beginning to end. A prose poem of extraordinary worth and value. Thank you for speaking so vividly and directly to an important societal topic.
Thanks for the comments, all. I’ll always remember a story my mom told about being at a party with other Air Force wives and hearing someone make derogatory comments about Cubans. This was around the time of the Mariel boatlift. Eventually the lady turned to my mom and said, “You know what they say about Cubans,” to which my mom coolly replied, “You’d be surprised how much I know,” and left.
That said, there is something extra sad for me about hearing immigrants make these kinds of comments about other immigrants. No one has a monopoly on stupidity or laziness, or their opposites. To think that your efforts are more worthy because they came first is, I think, a narrow view. At that same time, I hope no one feels I am minimizing a very complex and challenging issue.