As I am Learning Spanish

I knew nothing of Spanish,

but then I ledt native India,

and came to California,

landing at Los Angeles.

My first city — Costa Mesa.

The streets I often rode car,

or bicycled, in leisure,

were Barranca, Trabuco,

El Toro, or El Camino.

Neighbor cities had names

San Juan Capistrano,

Aliso Viejo, Laguna Niguel,

Understood the importance of Spanish

knew I got to learn,

or I would feel illiterate,

despite a PhD, and 2 MS.

But time was not right,

I did not dive for years,

anyway, subconsciously,

my brain was registering.

In the past two years,

I accelerated my learning.

I wrote bilingual poems,

published book anthology, too.

I picked Spanish words

like an enthusiastic child

gathering pebbles on a beach,

and I continue to do

My kids belt around,

a lot of amigo, casa, jardín,

pulpo, flores, leche, árbol,

cielo, nubes, and pajaro.

We are paying tribute to the

Mexican heritage of California

by picking some Spanish.

Note: Here is my English-Spanish bilingual book in Amazon KDP.