Legal Alien
Pat Mora
Bi-lingual, Bi-cultural,
able to slip from “How’s life?”
to “Me’stan volviendo loca,”
able to sit in a paneled office
5 drafting memos in smooth English,
able to order in fluent Spanish
at a Mexican restaurant,
American but hyphenated,
viewed by Anglos as perhaps exotic,
10 perhaps inferior, definitely different,
viewed by Mexicans as alien
(their eyes say, “You may speak
Spanish but you’re not like me”),
an American to Mexicans
15 a Mexican to Americans
a handy token
sliding back and forth
between the fringes of both worlds
by smiling
20 by masking the discomfort
of being pre-judged
Bi-laterally.
Extranjera legal
Pat Mora
Bi-lingüe, bi-cultural,
capaz de deslizarse de “How’s
life?”
a “Me’stan volviendo loca”,
capaz de ocupar un despacho bien
apuntado,
5 redactando memorandums en inglés liso,
capaz de ordenar la cena en español fluido
en restaurante mexicano,
americana pero con guión,
vista por los anglos como exótica,
10 quizás inferior, obviamente distinta,
vista por mexicanos como extranjera
(sus ojos dicen “Hablas español
pero no eres como yo”),
americana para mexicanos
15 mexicana para americanos
una ficha servible
pasando de un lado al otro
de los márgenes de dos mundos
sonriéndome
20 disfrazando la incomodidad
del pre-juicio
bi-lateralmente.
Making Meanings
First Thoughts
1. How would you respond to these questions: How am I like or unlike the person in “Legal Alien”? What could we learn from each other?
Shaping Interpretations
2. How do “Anglos” view the speaker? How do Mexicans view her?
3. According to lines 20–22, what is the speaker “masking,” or hiding?
4. Token is a word with multiple meanings. In line 16, what two meanings of token is Mora suggesting?
5. Of the following adjectives, which two best describe the speaker’s tone in this poem: sad, impatient, understanding, critical, angry, amused, accepting? Which particular words and phrases tip you off to the speaker’s tone?
6. English and Spanish may have more in common than you think. Take a look at the Spanish version of “Legal Alien”—“Extranjera legal.” List the words you recognize as similar to English words.
Connecting with the Text
7. The speaker says “American but hyphenated.” What does she mean? What hyphenated words, if any, might describe your own identity?
8. Have you ever been prejudged? In what ways do people prejudge others?
----