Linguistic Schizophrenic
a poem about language and identity
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.
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[Author's Note: This poem was first published in The Caribbean Writer (USVI), 2010]
About the Creator
Randy Baker
Poet, author, essayist.
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