H e a r t S o n s & H e a r t D a u g h t e r s of A l l e n G i n s b e r g

N a p a l m H e a l t h S p a : R e p o r t 2 0 1 4 : A r c h i v e s E d i t i o n

NANCY MERCADO

Last Guaguancó in Puerto Rico

I am not what I am

Wandering like a lone ant

Jumbled without direction

My local speech is foreign

My appearance a deception

In Puerto Rico

In the US

My mambo stifled

By freezing weather

My warm smile smothered

Under raging blizzards

My tears icicled

I struggle to break through

This immense space

Struggle to cross the endless ocean

Of Operation Bootstrap

Struggle to make a way home

For my self

[Originally published in NHS 2011, http://www.poetspath.com/napalm/nhs11/.]