Tarah Valin was a student in Dr. Cláudio Carvalhaes’ 2023 Summer Session class titled Humor, Laughter, Foolishness: Performing Love, Resilience and Resistance. This poem emerged out of a chapel on belonging. Scroll to the bottom of the page for a video of Tarah reciting her poem.
My Lang Pesada
in my lengua materna
when a
second generation
generation 1.25
generation x
generation timoun isit
youth
struggles against years of assimilation
struggles against la migración
struggles against americana
struggles against la bandera
struggles against “english please”
and all of that fighting results in
an awkward smile and looking at
your mom to translate your sheepish
mumbles into the language of your
ancestors, the language of your alma
they say “lang ou lou”
which means
tu lengua es pesada
que significa
all the pain of your antepasados
sits on top of your lengua
so when you try to lift it para
hablar Kreyòl
los taínos groan their songs of
dethroned royalty
and when you try to lift your lang
pou pale español
the perejil fills your mouth
until all you can taste is
sangre
which tongue
ki lang
cual lengua
will you use to speak your resistance?
¿cual lengua es tuya?
Tarah Valin
HSP Summer Session '23
