what language
do you speak
when you awaken me
hijica
mi alma
vista mia
my children
mis creaturas
you awaken us with riddles
He gives the rooster sense
to know the difference
between night and day
help us into our clothing
He clothes the naked
feed us breakfast
He provides
for His creatures
in seventh grade
I recite
a mother takes care
of her children
I substitute las creaturas
for las ninas
the anglo saxon spanish teacher roars with laughter
children are not creatures
las creaturas peer at me
past four centuries
grandmother says
El Padre el Grande
es el Creador
lie down in the crook
of His image
let oceans
beat the rhythm
sing to God
a new song
God is King
the heavens rejoice
the earth
the sea
and all that live within

even when you land
keep your travel clothes at hand
a wayfarer and a sojourner
am I
lech lecha
go for yourself
walk always
on a bridge of translation
bend your shoulders to hold old scrolls
idiomatic shapes
leap in every direction
midrash
captures the light
of seventy prisms
my first language
shapes my memory
full of mistakes
in America

 

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Links and Dr. Belsky's articles:
MASK
Introduction to Retorno 2003
Stages of Recovery in a MASK group
MASK Parents at Work