Zeroth-Generation Mexican American
After Marcelo Hernandez Castillo’s “Wetback”
I am not the kid who says:
“My parents are Mexican; I was born here.”
for I was forged in the streets
with old school buses for public transport.
I do not speak a broken Spanish
beyond my own broken soul
instead I have a heavy accent
and my brain gets foggy when I switch
at neck break speed.
I did not cross the border every day
for when I left the U.S. on my mother’s arms
I left it completely
when I left Mexico (and by extension,
my mother’s yearning arms)
I left them completely.
have green and blue passports
and have to worry about two governments:
one affects my friends and my paycheck
the other my family’s wellbeing.
My children will not be first-generation Americans
nor will they be n-th generation Mexicans
Durango will be diluted
Texas a distant story
And only our conversations in Spanish
will shape our future.
Kevin Vallejo is a writer from Idaho Falls, Idaho. His work has been featured in Beyond Queer Words, Menagerie of SE Idaho, and Reports of Progress in Physics, among others. In his freetime, Kevin works as a scientist for the U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory.
The Marbled Sigh 