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NANCY MERCADO

Last Guaguancó in Puerto Rico

I am not what I am

Wandering like a lone ant

Jumbled without direction

My local speech is foreign

My appearance a deception

In Puerto Rico

In the US

My mambo stifled

By freezing weather

My warm smile smothered

Under raging blizzards

My tears icicled

I struggle to break through

This immense space

Struggle to cross the endless ocean

Of Operation Bootstrap

Struggle to make a way home

For my self