BIO
Elena M. Aponte is convinced her Puerto Rican/Irish heritage is responsible for her love of all things witty and gritty. Her creative work has appeared in Barrelhouse, Jellyfish Review, Cheap Pop, and Matchbook Lit. Her non-fiction has appeared with Anime Feminist and Women Write About Comics. She is also the editor of Boricua en la Luna: An Anthology of Puerto Rican Voices, due in mid-2019. Check it out on Twitter @BoricuaEn.
silhouette of a man
Orale, it’s always money.
Tell me your name
Por favor dejeme ir
Debemos ser unidos
Oh? White on the inside.
Do something for your people
Come here.
Mira,
Deport me
Come on,
I’m living shit jobs
Tell me,
Who’s picking toxic grapes?
Eat them.
We were here first
Your country has all our names
Let me go.
(outraged)
Send me back.
“adios,”
Who’s to pick your salads?
Who’s to make your guacamole?
Keep back
(thrusts hips)
So scary
Monsters
A second language
The horror!
We deport you.
You clean out our toilets.
Use rubber gloves.
An Erasure of Leguizamo, John. Mambo Mouth: A Savage Comedy. New York, NY: Bantam Books, 1993.
From "Pepe" pg. 74—79.