Saturday, June 23, 2018

Where Is My Mami?

This poem is based on conversations with people during my recent trip to Texas and desk review of what is going on in the US since the Zero Policy was enacted in May 2018 by President Donald Trump. There are little children in detention centers/shelters and they don't know where their parents are or when they are going to meet them. Some parents reported that the officials didn't even notify that they are being separated so they couldn't even say goodbyes to their children or couldn't prepare them for what was coming. Anyways, some children were so small that they wouldn't have understood what is being done to them.... This poem has tried to imagine one such child's feelings who is in one of these shelters and wondering where her mother is... 


Why am I here?
Where is my mami?
No one here picks me up,
For a long time I have been crying!

I am afraid,
Angry, sad and confused,
And I don't even know
That I am being tortured and abused!

The floor is cold,
And so are the adults around me,
When I have a family,
Why only strangers surround me?

They give me food,
but it doesn't taste the same,
I want my mami to feed me,
And play our little game!

I miss resting in my mami's lap,
I miss her touch and her sweet voice,
I miss the way she called me, 'mija'!
Did she leave me here by choice?

I miss playing with her in the grass,
I miss looking at the stars,
Why can't I go pass this door?
Why, why am I behind the bars? 

Does my mami know,
I am lonely here?
Does she know I am desperate for her?
Does she no more care?

I just want my mami,
Just bring her to me,
How difficult is it
To reunite a child with her mami?

I don't know my crime,
Why am I being punished?
I don't know for how long?
Help, before my hope is diminished!

Hey Carlito, do you know,
Where my is mami?
Hey Mr. Sam, do you know,
Where is my mami?

Where is my mami?
Where is my mami....?

For more information, please read:

I am not OK

I am writing this on behalf of thousands of people, particularly the humanitarian workers around the world, who are not perfectly ok. Many o...