Ella me mira.

She would never say it.

Está escrito en su cara

it is written in her hands

apretado con la edad.

It is spoken in my light skin.

Todo lo que ella construyó

it all crashes down around her.

El cabello lacio de su hija

forever chemically altered.

Formulacio.

Slowly erasing the history

su familia olvida

their native tongue

extraño en mi boca

clumsy in my practice.

Mi madre me ruega

speak English. Be safe.

Abuela ve a su nieta blanca

Speaking Spanish doesn’t suit you

On Speaking Spanglish

Madelyn Schneider is a recent graduate from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She just helped to produce issue 24 of Furrow Magazine as the managing editor. Her work can also be seen in two issues of Secret Words, a subset of VA Press.