By: Dilcia Mercedes for La Galeria
I have never heard a language quite like mine
I’ve never heard a language carry Bachata rhythms,
flow like Merengue, or swing like Salsa on my tongue
after years of Spanish oppression, our tongues learned to rebel
We omitted S’s from our speech,
broke their words
cut syllables
cut sounds
cut entire phrases out
to cut ourselves loose from the ropes they tied to us
we created a new language
a gentle revolution at the tip of our tongues
No S’s for estupido
No S’s for salvaje
No S’s for esclavo
No S’s for Spanish
I do not speak Spanish
I speak Caribbean, more specifically Dominican
