Poetry by Miguel Fernandez

            Lauren Gardenbelle Fritts CC



​Mexican/American

after Pat Mora

Bi-lingual, Bi-cultural 
able to slip from “heyyyy!”
to “me andan estresando”
Able to sit in a classroom 
reading a book in English effortlessly
able to translate una carta en Español
for my dad’s upcoming citizenship test  
American and 
Chicano
Read by Anglos as maybe a hard worker
maybe an offender, definitely abnormal
introduced by Mexicans as stuck up
(awaiting my visit on a Zamora sillon, their eyes say 
“you never worked a day in your life”)
Rich to Mexicans
Poor to Americans
A thread 
Pulled painfully back and forth 
Across the separating seam
Of both cultures
Of both trends
By changing styles of clothes
By cloaking the agony of being
Bi-racially profiled


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Miguel Fernandez is a Chicano that goes to Central Alternative High School in Appleton, Wisconsin. Despite starting high school thinking poetry wasn't an option. He now knows finishing a single poem can make you feel an intense sense of satisfaction. 
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