Page 43 - Microsoft Word - resource book.doc

Dismantling Racism Resource Book

Revolutionary Spanish Lesson

Whenever my name
is mispronounced,
I want to buy a toy pistol,
put on dark sunglasses,
push my beret to an angle,
comb my beard to a point,
hijack a busload
of republican tourists
from Wisconsin,
force them to chant
anti-American slogans
in Spanish,
and wait
for the bilingual SWAT team
to helicopter overhead, Lección revolucionaria de español
begging me
to be reasonable Cada vez que pronuncian
mal mi nombre,
quiero comprar una pistola de juguete,
ponerme gafas oscuras,
inclinar mi boina,
peinar mi barba hasta que apunte,
secuestrar una guagua
llena de turistas Republicanos
de Wisconsin
forzarlos a corear
consignas anti-Americanas
en español,
y esparar
las fuerzas de choque bilingues
sobrevolando en un helicóptero,
rogándome
que sea razonable

Martín Espada is a Puerto Rican Poet born in Brooklyn, NY in 1957. He is author of several books of
poems and essays like Rebellion Is the Circle of a Lover’s Hands, Trumpets from the Islands of
their Evictions, and City of Coughing and Dead Radiators. Espada is well known critic of the
colonization of Puerto Rico and supporter of the movement for Puerto Rican independence.

Dismantling Racism Project 43 Western States Center