Right English by E

I used to think
in something other than English.
I used to write
with a hand other than my right.

But teachers at mi escuela my school
taught me the correct way
to think
sólo en ingles
sólo Eenglush
only in English
as they made me sit on my left hand
and put a fat pencil in my other one,
calmly refusing to believe
that the thick drunken
letters staggering across the
lines could be
better done if they’d only release
my captive hand
my captive mind.

Eventually I learned
to think and write The Language
crisply, with a surgeon’s precision.

Occasionally though,
I stare at my neglected left hand and
sometimes,
once in awhile,
I dream in Spanish
talking con mi abuelita.

Estoy comiendo arroz y frijoles.

Yo sueño con algun dia, hablar en mi primer lengua.