grace

… filling in the negative space with positively everything

  • Art Not Ads!

  • Flickr

    OrtizArtInHall2OrtizArtLobbyLoungeCrowdScene2Hotel Sorella - grand stairway version 2Hotel Sorella - Bistro AlexCollageInLoungeCityCentre streetscape pedestrian at Hotel SorellaCityCentre Sculptures by DesignCityCentre Houston Motor ClubBehindTheBar

  • tweets...

    Posting tweet...

    • where you came from

    Posted on | September 7, 2004 | No Comments

    “GO BACK TO WHERE YOU CAME FROM!”
    a wrinkled white woman shot at my mother
    through a network of tubes
    on her hospital deathbed.
    “DON’T TOUCH ME! GO BACK TO WHERE YOU CAME FROM, JAP!”

    My mom
    said nothing
    administered her morphine
    and made the dying easier to bear.

    32 years ago
    My mom
    dove into the pot
    but didn’t melt
    because she wasn’t a witch.

    32 years ago
    My mom
    got burned
    and left the red-white-and-blue-stew
    to simmer slowly to a boil
    so the meat would rise to the surface
    of the murky broth.

    My mom
    cares for people
    who may slap her
    and yet
    finds the strength
    to turn the other cheek
    and continue caring.

    My mom does what Jesus would do.

    My mom
    came to this country
    —just like everyone else—
    for the chance to live in a two-story house
    with central heat and a/c
    clean water and electricity
    an acre of green grass
    and four cars in the driveway.

    My mom
    came to this country
    and gave me the birthright of free speech
    and the luxury of using it.

    My mom
    works hard
    to build a secure foundation
    for the soapbox I stand on
    So I can scream the things she can’t
    So I can stir this American pot
    ladle out the things that haven’t melted
    and serve them whole and raw.

    Because
    “GO BACK TO WHERE YOU CAME FROM!”
    makes no sense when none of us are from here
    “GO BACK TO WHERE YOU CAME FROM!”
    makes no sense when our roots are twisted and tangled
    “GO BACK TO WHERE YOU CAME FROM!”
    Do you even know where that is?

    I do.
    My mom.
    Go back to where YOU came from.

    Category: a musing

    Comments

    Leave a Reply