I am a child of the Americas,

A light-skinned mestiza of the Caribbean,

A child of many diaspora, born into this continent at a crossroads.

I am a U.S.Puerto Rican Jew,

A product of the getthos of New York I have never known.

An immigrant and the daughter and the granddraughter of immigrants.

I speak English with passion: it’s the tongue of my consciousness,

A flashing knife blade, my tool, my craft.

I am a Caribeña, island grown, Spanish is in my flesh,

Ripples from my tongue, lodges in my hips:

The language of garlic and mangoes,

The singing in my poetry, the flying gestures of my hands.

I am of Latinoamerica, rooted in the history of my continent:

I speak from that body.

I am not African. Africa is in me, but I cannot return.

I am not taína. Taíno is in me, but there is no way back.

I am not European. Europe lives in me, but I have no home there.

I am new. History made me. My first language was spanglish.

I was born at the crossroads And I am whole.

N.R.: Taínos were the Indian tribe indigenous to Puerto Rico

_{LAUTER, P. ed. The Heath Anthology of American Literature. vol. 2. Boston: Houghton Miffin Company, 1988. p. 3188.}

Assinale com V (verdadeiro) ou F (falso) as afirmações abaixo, acerca do poema.

( ) A fala do sujeito lírico soa mais próxima do espanhol do que do inglês.

( ) O sujeito lírico está congenitamente ligado à América, à África e à Europa.

( ) O sujeito lírico não se percebe mais como americano, africano ou europeu.

( ) O espanhol é a segunda língua do sujeito lírico.

A sequência correta de preenchimento dos parênteses, de cima para baixo, é