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In Between Worlds
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I live in a doorway between two rooms,
between two worlds.
I'm an in-transition undocumented student
I must prepare for grad school
I hear the clicking of pens, click, click, click,
the fast brushing of pointed lead making its way
across faint blue lines, on crisp white paper
Frantic scribbling of short cuts for algebraic equations
that could only be used on culturally biased standardized tests
Quick…
don't forget there's always one right wrong answer
"What would Archie choose"
oh wait, that's not Princeton Review, that's Testing for the Public
One too many test prep classes…you could never be over prepared
Now…
Take the GRE and pass it
Sustain existing networks and cultivate new ones
Remain actively involved within academic circles and endeavors
Have enough culturally acceptable substance to legitimize your time away from school
Have a competitive resume
Be a walking, breathing, faceless, and highly polished application
Don't forget to breathe.
I peek in the other room…
I see a beautiful, strong mujer cleaning the house of an Anglo woman
who is too busy with her business and self-indulging leisure time
to clean her own house
That beautiful, strong mujer is my mother
In another home I smell the laundry detergent bubbling up and washing away
the smell of old furniture, forgotten lives
Of loneliness
I am helping that beautiful strong mujer change the sheets, dust the furniture,
vacuum the carpets in every lifeless room in the house
This mujer and I are maintaining the remnants of a once fruitful, lively, jubilant
household in which all the members have left now, except
for the father, Mr. Bill
I find myself working side by side this beautiful, strong mujer cleaning and washing,
dusting and wiping, keeping and maintaining their
middle-class privileged lifestyles
I too, am cleaning and washing, dusting and wiping
my way to the top,
towards the entrance of the Ivory Tower
Let me in…
I too, belong within your sanitized, bare, white,
and polished hallways and rooms
Let me in…
But don't expect me to clean and wash, dust and wipe,
keep and maintain
your required quota of women of color for your department
so you can maintain your upper-middle class, white, heterosexual
male dominating privileged lifestyle
Let me in…
Because I too deserve to be within those Ivory Tower walls
My community needs me there,
my people need me there
I need myself there
We have been cleaning and washing, dusting and wiping,
keeping and maintaining
America's home for generations
Let me in…
I turn around
I hear the clicking of pens, click, click, click
the fast brushing of pointed lead making its way
across faint blue lines, on crisp white paper...
between two worlds.
I'm an in-transition undocumented student
I must prepare for grad school
I hear the clicking of pens, click, click, click,
the fast brushing of pointed lead making its way
across faint blue lines, on crisp white paper
Frantic scribbling of short cuts for algebraic equations
that could only be used on culturally biased standardized tests
Quick…
don't forget there's always one right wrong answer
"What would Archie choose"
oh wait, that's not Princeton Review, that's Testing for the Public
One too many test prep classes…you could never be over prepared
Now…
Take the GRE and pass it
Sustain existing networks and cultivate new ones
Remain actively involved within academic circles and endeavors
Have enough culturally acceptable substance to legitimize your time away from school
Have a competitive resume
Be a walking, breathing, faceless, and highly polished application
Don't forget to breathe.
I peek in the other room…
I see a beautiful, strong mujer cleaning the house of an Anglo woman
who is too busy with her business and self-indulging leisure time
to clean her own house
That beautiful, strong mujer is my mother
In another home I smell the laundry detergent bubbling up and washing away
the smell of old furniture, forgotten lives
Of loneliness
I am helping that beautiful strong mujer change the sheets, dust the furniture,
vacuum the carpets in every lifeless room in the house
This mujer and I are maintaining the remnants of a once fruitful, lively, jubilant
household in which all the members have left now, except
for the father, Mr. Bill
I find myself working side by side this beautiful, strong mujer cleaning and washing,
dusting and wiping, keeping and maintaining their
middle-class privileged lifestyles
I too, am cleaning and washing, dusting and wiping
my way to the top,
towards the entrance of the Ivory Tower
Let me in…
I too, belong within your sanitized, bare, white,
and polished hallways and rooms
Let me in…
But don't expect me to clean and wash, dust and wipe,
keep and maintain
your required quota of women of color for your department
so you can maintain your upper-middle class, white, heterosexual
male dominating privileged lifestyle
Let me in…
Because I too deserve to be within those Ivory Tower walls
My community needs me there,
my people need me there
I need myself there
We have been cleaning and washing, dusting and wiping,
keeping and maintaining
America's home for generations
Let me in…
I turn around
I hear the clicking of pens, click, click, click
the fast brushing of pointed lead making its way
across faint blue lines, on crisp white paper...
