i am a woman
i am beautiful, i am a latina woman
i am passionate, hot blood, dark hair, dark skin
i am a mother, i am caring, sweet, always-there-person
i am a student, i am good, brilliant, original
i am a worker, i am punctual, organized, reliable
what if...?
i am almost beautiful woman
still passionate, hot blooded, dark hair but outrageously pale latina
a single mother that cares
not always sweet, always trying to be fair
a good professional,
that dreams to be brilliant, original, perfect
but may only know how to ask questions
a non-punctual, but organized, reliable a worker
which woman am i? which woman should i be?
what a confusion! what a pain!
not to find myself in your expectations
of a woman, Latina, mother, worker
it should be different—the mirror should reflect me
your eyes should see me—your laws should respect me
i am who i am
no matter anybody’s idea
of how i should look like, or how i should behave, or how i should care
i am just me, a foreigner, a woman,
a Latina, a mother that cares, who works to learn and support ourselves
i am who i am
please you not
messing your definitions, doodling your statistics,
trashing your plans for my future
i am more than profiles
foreigner, minority, woman, single mother, ELL
look at me — look at who is in front of you
listen my voice, with your soul eyes
with your heart ears -- the ones that see my message
the ones that understand my accent
i hope you can, i hope i can
touch hands, your hands, my hands, our hands
there is no other way to overcome our ignorance
only together, in this winter,
that made me feel cold, that made you feel cold
that made us feel cold.
i am beautiful, i am a latina woman
i am passionate, hot blood, dark hair, dark skin
i am a mother, i am caring, sweet, always-there-person
i am a student, i am good, brilliant, original
i am a worker, i am punctual, organized, reliable
what if...?
i am almost beautiful woman
still passionate, hot blooded, dark hair but outrageously pale latina
a single mother that cares
not always sweet, always trying to be fair
a good professional,
that dreams to be brilliant, original, perfect
but may only know how to ask questions
a non-punctual, but organized, reliable a worker
which woman am i? which woman should i be?
what a confusion! what a pain!
not to find myself in your expectations
of a woman, Latina, mother, worker
it should be different—the mirror should reflect me
your eyes should see me—your laws should respect me
i am who i am
no matter anybody’s idea
of how i should look like, or how i should behave, or how i should care
i am just me, a foreigner, a woman,
a Latina, a mother that cares, who works to learn and support ourselves
i am who i am
please you not
messing your definitions, doodling your statistics,
trashing your plans for my future
i am more than profiles
foreigner, minority, woman, single mother, ELL
look at me — look at who is in front of you
listen my voice, with your soul eyes
with your heart ears -- the ones that see my message
the ones that understand my accent
i hope you can, i hope i can
touch hands, your hands, my hands, our hands
there is no other way to overcome our ignorance
only together, in this winter,
that made me feel cold, that made you feel cold
that made us feel cold.
Miryam Espinosa-Dulanto is a faculty member at the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley. Dr. Espinosa-Dulanto holds a Ph.D. in Curriculum Theory and Educational Policies for Linguistic Minorities from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Espinosa-Dulanto's writing as well as her academic research departs from identifying herself as a woman of color, a Borderlands Mestiza, and a non-mainstream person in the US. From that perspective, she explores the construction and transmission of knowledge. Dr. Espinosa-Dulanto is a veteran teacher, she has taught in urban and rural settings, in the United States, Latin America, Europe, and Asia. In addition, Dr. Espinosa-Dulanto is an avid ethnographer who uses narrative inquiry, photography, and poetry as tools to learn and communicate. Currently, she is working in two projects, a Poetry Collection, "Finding Home in Memory: Stories of Immigration, Diaspora, and Dis/location” and, she is conducting research on the USA/Mexico border
