melao was nineteen years old
when he arrived from santurce
spanish speaking streets
melao is thirty-nine years old
in new york still speaking
santurce spanish streets
melaíto his son now answered
in black american soul english talk
with native plena sounds
and primitive urban salsa beats
somehow melao was not concerned
at the neighborly criticism
of his son’s disparate sounding
talk
melao remembered he was criticized
back in puerto rico for speaking
arrabal black spanish
in the required english class
melao knew that if anybody
called his son american
they would shout puertorro
in english and spanish
meaning i am puerto rican
coming from yo soy boricua
i am a jíbaro
dual mixtures
of melao and melaíto’s
spanglish speaking son
así es la cosa papá