Rican Issues

Carmen Bardeguez-Brown

Say What?
Could you please, Pleeeeeeeeeeease repeat
Did you say: Molleta?
Prieta?
Morena?
Ohh African!
Hmmm Soy Puertorriquena
Yes, Puertorican

That I don’t look What ?
Oh, I guess I don’t look cafe con leche
mancha de plátano
Mulata,
high yellow
grifa
By the way
I did not know that there was a puertorican look.
And what exactly is that?
That I just look more what?
Well,    Y   Tu   abuela    dónde      Está?
I should say abuela, tío, Tía, y to el barrio
Let me tell you something
FOR YOUR INFORMATION
Most ricans are a mix of Africans, Spaniards, and Native Americans called
Taínos
By the way, no one has seen a Taíno in the last 500 years.
Sooooo   exactly ... You know what that means
My     English is covered with spices
spices from the Caribbean
Spices that you might find Strange
Because you were born in this cold fast food of a mall of a country
Where Spanish is a foreign word
That you are ashamed to learn

And when you try
Is not there
Only mumbles of a murmur
Susurando el olvido
A reganadientes
Pretendiendo
Escondiendo la vergüenza
You remember Puerto Rico on the 2nd Sunday of every June
When everybody is suddenly proud to be Puerto Rican
No the word is Boricua
Boricuas Here, Boricuas THERE, Boricuas everywhere
And everyone waves the flags
The flags that they don’t even understand
And no one knows why they are here
Yes HERE Now
Do you Know?
why your parents or grandparents vinieron aqui?
De que Pueblo?
Cuando te bañaste en las aguas calientes del Caribe?
Better yet
Do you really know that ...?
We all came from the Motherland
Africa
Even the Spanish people that came with Colon, Columbus
However you want to say it
Lived 700 hundred years under the Moors
You heard that right
The moors as in Arabs as in black Arabs
SO ... in other words
Not only I
But we
Have over 500 years of African mestizaje
The so called “white people” that everyone is so proud of
As in “my grandparents are from Spain”
Well, if they are ...
They
Too have negrITOs in them
Remember the Gitanos
But that is another story ...
Getting back to the Boricua’s   issue

What history do you know?
Ever heard of
Agüeybaná
Albizu Campos
Palés Matos
Rafael Betances
Arturo Schomburg
Francisco Oller
Julia De Burgos
Rafael Hernández
Segundo Ruiz Belvís
Enrique Laguerre
Mariana Bracetti
Pedro Pietri

Still havING problems figuring me out?
Or is it that you just don’t know
Who you are?

Copyright © 2024 by Carmen Bardeguez-Brown. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on December 12, 2024, by the Academy of American Poets.

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about this poem

“I wrote ‘Rican Issues’ after attending the June Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York City many years ago. During the event, many Puerto Ricans asked me if I was Dominican, Haitian, Panamanian, or African. When I told them I was Puerto Rican, I could see the surprise in their reactions. They would respond that I did not ‘look Puerto Rican.’ Most of these individuals were born in New York City, and many did not know Spanish. When I asked them why their families came to the United States, most couldn’t answer. I also noticed an intense fascination with claiming Taíno heritage, often overshadowing our African ancestry and the legacy of mestizaje. In the poem, I experimented with font size and formatting to capture the feel of an engaged conversation, mimicking our back-and-forth responses, vocal intonations, and rhythm.”
—Carmen Bardeguez-Brown

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