Two Worlds by Pat Mora
Bi-lingual, Bi-cultural
Able to slip from “How’s life”
to “M’estan volviendo loca,”
able to sit in a paneled office
drafting memos in smooth English,
able to order in fluent Spanish
at a Mexican restaurant,
American but hyphenated,
viewed by anglos as perhaps exotic,
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
a Mexican to Americans
a handy token
sliding back and forth
between the fringes of both worlds
by smiling
by masking the discomfort
of being pre-judged
Bi-laterally.
Pat Mora is a Hispanic poet and children's author who centers many of her writings on the lives of Hispanic Americans and U.S. Latinos. Her poem entitled "Two Worlds" tells the story of the struggles many Mexican-Americans face living in two separate worlds--one as a Mexican and the other as an American. Being bilingual and bicultural herself, Pat Mora understands the frustrations and insecurities that come along with trying to fit in to both worlds.
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