through my teeth

letters

cocorobot — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 14:07:13 -0500

Dear French,

my first and eldest

you were the first to join a family

of linguistic uncertainty

you were easy to love;

my link to a nation

that no one expects to be mine

i did not choose you nor you me

and yet (or for that very reason)

you blossomed in your adolescent years

and i cling to you as i cling

to my july 1 birthday

and raised vowels.

—

Dear Japanese,

my problem child

you came to the family

rambunctious and fighting

they told me you were exotic

yet desirable;

the popular girl in school

and so you frightened me

but later i saw you too were just a language

sometimes hurt and abused

and in the end what i loved about you

was not your otherness

but your surprising familiarity.

—

Dear Mandarin,

my neglected baobao

you were always there

although i did not notice

at times i resented you

an unwanted responsibility

that i did not want or choose for myself

but you would not could not leave me

and so you remained by my side

unfed, uncared for and unloved

i hope it’s not too late

for apologies and

new beginnings.

—

Dear English,

my shadow my firstborn

you were always my everything

my sword and my shield

my passport that i waved in people’s faces

when they questioned my identity

you were my ticket to acceptance i thought

so i made you big and strong

but even as you turned out to be

not so impermeable (it is not your fault)

you made room for your new siblings

and for that i thank you

anyway.

f f f f f hy i should not invest in such things at all

cocorobot — Sun, 23 Dec 2012 02:47:51 -0500

f f f f f hy

i should not invest in such things

at all

imawo: when i’m angry and unrestrained i don’t hold back the bite i wonder if one day i could cut a...

cocorobot — Sat, 22 Sep 2012 14:23:24 -0400

imawo:

when i’m angry

and unrestrained

i don’t hold back the bite

i wonder if one day

i could cut a man to pieces

with words

"The feeling starts from reading words on a computer screen then dissipates all throughout my chest..."

cocorobot — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 00:39:00 -0400

“The feeling starts from reading words on a computer screen then dissipates all throughout my chest and stomach right down to my toes, and when I lay my head down to rest it spills out my ears on the bed I never made, and I rest in a warm puddle of my own adolescence.”

- (via imawo)