Learning Spanish

My clumsy Anglo tongue
stumbles over rolling hills
of double consonants
my clumsy eye follows
bright colored
fiesta faldas

(that's skirts)

and quick slippery tongues
the sharp Mexican tongues
that for a century dozed
awaken
watering with a taste
for Salinas
esta muerto

(that's dead)

and in the markets where manzanas
oranges
pan
dresses

and babies
are bought and sold

are whispers of rage
and revolution.