Katie Méndez

All The Pretty Accents

I opened my eyes
And for a while I was blind
Takes some time to adjust
To the brightness

I am walking down the street
Singing and dancing
To the soundtrack of ma vie

The leaves have begun to change color
All the pretty accents call me to life

I have been waiting for an hour
For my ride to work
I could walk there if I wanted to
But I decide to wait

The couple to my right
Is talking about last night
And the old lady to my left
Is chastising the little boy (probably her grandson)
For standing too close to the tracks

And I, I am pretending to read the map
Though
I know
Exactly where I am going
I think

I am pretending not to listen
But I am indeed eavesdropping
Seeing with what richness
People tell their lives

Oh if only they knew
They are speaking louder
Than they intend to

I did not start on purpose
It was their voices
With all the pretty accents
That called me to life.

               Oct. 3, 2004
               Strasbourg, France

               ¤ ¤ ¤

Statistics

In black print you tell me
You tell me that I’m not supposed to
That I’m not supposed to succeed
Because I don’t own any stock
And English isn’t
The only language that I speak.

You say, “Only 13%, 11%, 4%, 2%.
It’s just the facts and a bad state to be in.”
To hell with your percentages and as a matter of fact
To hell with you.

Speak of my successes, not of things I lack
Speak of how through your “impossibilities”
I still rise
Speak of how I need no translators
Because I can speak and read and write
In more languages than you
Have the ability to learn

Why don’t you say that despite your “facts?”
There are truths your numbers can never measure
No matter how much “research” you’ve done
No matter how much you’ve “observed”

Observe that the odds are against me
And yet here I am
Observe my values, my ethics, and my motivations
Put a number on these and then
Tell me what percentage of that accounts for my negation of your numbers
For my blatant contradiction of your “truth”
For my success, the success that embitters you

Are your studies skewed?
Speak of my successes and observe
How I jump over the barriers you set up,
How I rip away the blinders off your eyes (against your will)
And defeat your numbers every time.


               April 26, 2004
               After having read various negative articles
               concerning Hispanic students in higher education.