The Punchline
Why do Mexicans eat tamales on Christmas?
So they have something to unwrap.
My uncle told me this joke when I was 12.
We're Mexican, but I always have more presents than
tamales to unwrap.
If a Mexican man is making fun of his own culture,
What must other people think of us?
Are we just poor immigrant farm workers?
Are we the people that you hire to clean your house and
mow your lawn?
Are we the ones you snicker at and crack jokes about?
Beaners who get by day to day,
Struggling to make ends meet
In hope of providing their families with limited means
And presents wrapped in masa and corn husks?
So why do Mexicans eat tamales on Christmas?
Because their grape picking, Rio Grande swimming,
Immigration evading
Abuelitas tell them to.
The Bean Eaters
The children down the street
spy on cotton shaped clouds
Eager looks filled with mischievous desires run from
corner to corner
Dreams span from here to Saigon as they gather
amidst chunks of concrete and gravel
Their lives have led them here
The words their parents speak echo in their heads
like ancient Chinese symbols
They run from here to there wreaking havoc from Inez to
Chestnutt
Latin is a culture not something taught in "Southside"
Clean looking kids (you'd be surprised)
Well groomed and well kept
Though seemingly not well versed nor well spoken
Wallpaper covers their dreams as they stare out their
windows and into the alley
No geese in this pond
No pond in this life
Santa Maria -- the goddess of the bean
