Crossing by Lynn M. Knapp

“Crossing” by Lynn M. Knapp, published in Giving Ground, released in February 2017 by The Poetry Box was nominated for Pushcart Prize in 2017.

Crossing

His mouth full
of broken syllables,
Mario dies a death
with each twisted word
he utters,
each turn of phrase,
a mark of difference.
Powerful in Spanish,
he is captive, subjugated
in manacles of English.
Still struggling
with his twenty-year adversary,
he asks me,
When you speak Spanish,
do you feel empty?
No, I say,
I feel full, llena de amor,
llena de posibilidades.
But I do not live or die,
drown or thrive,
by this language,
as he does by English.
I do not face daily
small humiliations.
I can cross the border
freely, sin pena.