"I Walk Into Every Room and Yell Where the Mexicans At" by José Olivarez

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend December 1, 2017   I Walk Into Every Room and Yell Where the Mexicans At   José Olivarez

i know we exist because of what we make. my dad works at a steel mill. he worked at a steel mill my whole life. at the party, the liberal white woman tells me she voted for hillary & wishes bernie won the nomination. i stare in the mirror if i get too lonely. thirsty to see myself i once walked into the lake until i almost drowned. the white woman at the party who might be liberal but might have voted for trump smiles when she tells me how lucky i am. how many automotive components do you think my dad has made. you might drive a car that goes and stops because of something my dad makes. when i watch the news i hear my name, but never see my face. every other commercial is for taco bell. all my people fold into a $2 crunchwrap supreme. the white woman means lucky to be here and not mexico. my dad sings por tu maldito amor & i'm sure he sings to america. y yo caí en tu trampa ilusionado. the white woman at the party who may or may not have voted for trump tells me she doesn't meet too many mexicans in this part of new york city. my mouth makes an oh, but i don't make a sound. a waiter pushes his brown self through the kitchen door carrying hors d'oeuvres. a song escapes through the swinging door. selena sings pero ay como me duele & the good white woman waits for me to thank her.            Copyright © 2017 José Olivarez. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   "I sometimes get invited to parties with people way above my tax bracket. At these parties, I am rarely the only Mexican person, but I am usually the only Mexican on the guest list. I wrote this poem while thinking about Mexican (in)visibility and the expected performance of gratitude." —José Olivarez   José Olivarez's debut poetry collection, Citizen Illegal, is forthcoming from Haymarket Books in fall of 2018. He is the marketing manager at Young Chicago Authors and lives in Chicago.       Photo credit: RJ Eldridge "Everyday We Get More Illegal" by Juan Felipe Herrera "No mode of excitement is absolutely colorless" by Mónica de la Torre "Care" by Craig Santos Perez Help Support Poem-a-Day   If you value Poem-a-Day, please consider a monthly donation or one-time gift to help make it possible. Poem-a-Day is the only digital series publishing new, previously unpublished work by today's poets each weekday morning. The free series, which also features a curated selection of classic poems on weekends, reaches 450,000+ readers daily. Thank you! Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038

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