And while you get up and have your milk and cereal
Siempre desayuno con platano de mangu
Not no cheerios
I always mix it up
Con salsa y merengue
Constantly side ways glanced at
Like, she speak no ingles
Yo si puedo hablar, ingles y espanol
Hasta puedo entender dos y tres
Languages!
Confronted with problems like immigration
Forced to have my parties down in the basement
Confined to the more popular story that my family
Criss, crossed, and slid past borders
Trying to find a new place to live
Guilty of chasing paper
without papers
but when that visa is blinking green
It’s saying
“Go, go m’jita! Fight for your dreams!”
See, My mother came here with a belly full of
liberty and hope
She bore them both
Naturalization
the wiping out of my roots made legal under oath
invisible legally but
constantly contributing economically
Corporate America doesn’t want to see me
The fields y los barrios embrace queen
My culture has this game on choke hold
Americana y Dominicana
means I’m worth gold
With traditions so deep
And a passion this strong
The love for my culture
Will forever live on
Added: Friday, February 5, 2016 / Used with permission.
Elexia Alleyne, better known as "Mama Lexi" by her peers and loved ones, was born and raised in Washington, DC and graduated from Benjamin Banneker High School. She began writing in the sixth grade and has performed on stages all over ranging from The Kennedy Center, the Atlas, THEARC, all the way to the Built on Stilts festival in Martha's Vineyard. She was one of six poets to participate in Split This Rock's 2015 Fly Language program where she traveled to South Africa to share and perform original poetry with other youth. Lexi has been a member of FRESHH, the 2015 DC Youth Slam Team, Words, Beats & Life, and wrote and modeled for LOVE Girls Magazine. Lexi majored in Speech Pathology at Old Dominion University. Her quote to live by is: "Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is an act of self preservation, and that is a method of political warfare." - Audre Lorde
