A tribal language in a global world
if I spoke
fluently
away from my own
head & history
if I spoke a dying language
not revernacularized or revitalized
my challenge would be
keeping loved words alive & safe
what word would I destroy
to save a life
my father was exiled
from his language
& his family, job, citizenship, country
maybe he didn't live his life in German
just because mine is lived in English
it frustrates me
not to have Spanish Italian Norsk Yiddish Hebrew Japanese
to be anonymous
by not having
conversation
stop for me slow down
the jokes work
if Mercè's English weren't good
we wouldn't be sisters
April 2020/February 2021