Linguistic Schizophrenic

My two selves are one.

Joined by a shotgun wedding,

lexicons twirl feverishly

in their marriage dance.

*

Patois,

thick as molasses

swaggers from my mouth

dripping lyrics and spice.

*

Flip the switch.

*

Now, starched and unyielding

my textbook grammar

marches tall like soldiers,

or the voice from the evening news.

*

Neurons square off,

a coin flip of identity,

the face is revealed

with each twist of the tongue.

------------------------------------------

[Author's Note: This poem was first published in The Caribbean Writer (USVI), 2010]