CHI 91 CHA 108
What walks on three legs in the morning...
-The Riddle of the Sphinx
-The Riddle of the Sphinx
Part 1
I write in the morning
Because that’s when I’m most honest.
We have filters
That get stronger through time.
Filters that distort honesty--
Turn it into something else.
Something just as important.
Part 2
I learned Spanish as an adult,
Sort of.
Pretty impossible
To really learn a language
As a grownup.
Especially in college.
But I was in school
Studying to become a teacher--
And so I minored in Spanish
Because I’m smart.
But once I was in those
Upper-level classes,
All the other students
We’re native speakers.
Actually fluent.
And I may have gotten better grades,
But they sure as hell
Had it easier.
Jibbering and jabbering the whole time,
While I stared at the instructor’s lips--
Squinting--
Holding my breath.
Like a sniper.
The point is this:
Language is learned
Through imitation.
So shit kids say
Is shit kids hear.
Part 3
In elementary school,
Kids knew way more
About my home life
Then I had told them.
And one day
When the teacher was chastising me
For falling asleep in class--
Allende announced:
His daddy’s a drunk!
That was all it took.
Looking back,
I can’t help wondering
If he was coming to my defense.
Like:
Leave him alone, teacher.
His dad was probably drunk.
And he didn’t have nobody
Looking after him.
But the thing is
He was right.
My daddy was a drunk.
And so I punched Allende
And then punched him some more.
And maybe it wasn’t
His whoopin to take,
But he took it
Like a champ.
I write in the morning
Because that’s when I’m most honest.
We have filters
That get stronger through time.
Filters that distort honesty--
Turn it into something else.
Something just as important.
Part 2
I learned Spanish as an adult,
Sort of.
Pretty impossible
To really learn a language
As a grownup.
Especially in college.
But I was in school
Studying to become a teacher--
And so I minored in Spanish
Because I’m smart.
But once I was in those
Upper-level classes,
All the other students
We’re native speakers.
Actually fluent.
And I may have gotten better grades,
But they sure as hell
Had it easier.
Jibbering and jabbering the whole time,
While I stared at the instructor’s lips--
Squinting--
Holding my breath.
Like a sniper.
The point is this:
Language is learned
Through imitation.
So shit kids say
Is shit kids hear.
Part 3
In elementary school,
Kids knew way more
About my home life
Then I had told them.
And one day
When the teacher was chastising me
For falling asleep in class--
Allende announced:
His daddy’s a drunk!
That was all it took.
Looking back,
I can’t help wondering
If he was coming to my defense.
Like:
Leave him alone, teacher.
His dad was probably drunk.
And he didn’t have nobody
Looking after him.
But the thing is
He was right.
My daddy was a drunk.
And so I punched Allende
And then punched him some more.
And maybe it wasn’t
His whoopin to take,
But he took it
Like a champ.