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Sofia Snow
Sonia's mother got locked up this summer.
It's September.
She's still trying to adjust.
She doesn't know how to fall asleep
without the noises of noses and needles
outside her
bedless bedroom
doorless doorframe.
Sonia doesn't speak english yet,
but she's fluent in anger
with a Dominican accent
or rather,
she's fluent in I'm abandoned
with a My Mother Is absent.
Her actions speak louder than her broken English.
Unfortunately
she wont be graded on how quickly she can make you cry
or promoted based on how hard she punches.
Standardized testing
doesn't consider
students
who grew up without multiple choices,
who can't fill in the blanks of innocence lost,
so Sonia might not pass 2nd grade this year.
I think Johan has a little crush on her.
It's April
He's just arrived from San Juan
He hears English like he hears flying bricks:
he dodges.
Johan has only seen the sweet side of Sonia.
The part of her that bloomed
months after her aunt
stopped taking her to bang bony knuckles
on soundproof glass
as her mother tried to explain
she needs to put the phone
to her ear
to hear her.
He's only seen the sweet side of Sonia.
He flies to her like a bee to a flower.
He isn't familiar with smiles to sweet.
It's January.
Johan is in San Juan,
locked in his abuela's basement.
He cries
with hands tied around a cement pole.
Abuelita smacks his bare back
with wet boiled towels.
He cries
hours later,
locked shirtless in a cold basement,
wet back.
It's April.
He flies
to Boston like a bee
to flowers
only
to find
that Mozart St. isn't
as sweet as his Tia
told him.
On his way home from school,
he dodges bricks and bullets
like he dodges English.
Too bad he wont be graded
on how fast he runs.
His actions
speak louder than his broken English.
He cant tell you what it's like
to leave everything behind
without a Puerto Rican accent.
He can't stand in line
without flinching
from flashbacks of lashed backs
He cant bear to see the bare pipes
in the boys' bathroom
the sound of water sends him back
and back
and backwards to a Puerto Rican basement
and you can't silence his fears in English.
He only speaks I am from a place you refuse to acknowledge exists.
He sees that same place
in Sonia's eyes
yet the strangest smile
blooms across her face
every time she finishes a reading a book
in this new tongue he's never known.
He wonders if he'll ever have her smile
while having her eyes
while having her story
while having his own.
Its June.
neither Sonia
nor Johan
passed 2nd grade this year.
They both started too late.
Standardized testing
doesn't consider
students
who can't learn language
before they learn love,
who can't learn love,
before they learn peace
in a classroom that refuses to acknowledge
their realities exist
and follow them
across borders
across cultures.
Beyond classrooms,
beyond theory,
there is Sonia
and Johan
confused,
upset,
and alone.
The last thing they need
is another test
in a language
they have yet to learn.