Linguistic Conquest Poem by Kimberly Burnham

Before Spanish
Caribbean mother's sang to their babies
angry merchants shouted
lovers whispered
tribesman negotiated in so many
different now forgotten languages
obscured by the words rolling off
the tongues of
Spanish conquistadors
English sailors
French traders and Dutch merchants

Spanish now voiced by the most
on the largest
Cuba and Dominican Republic
where men and women discuss Paz

Peace in English the state language of many
Antigua, Bahamas,
Barbados, British Virgin Islands,
Cayman Islands, Dominica,
Jamaica and all the Saints,
sharing Puerto Rico with Spanish

On the compass points peace in European
languages standing strong in the Caribbean
Spanish pas to the West and Central
English peace to the North and East
French paix sharing the East and Central
Dutch vrede to the South

Mother's chant paix to their babies in Haiti,
Martinique, Guadeloupe, and St. Martin.

Vrede in Dutch full of good intentions in
Curacao, St Maarten and tiny islands

Indigenous languages buried deep
some pushing up expanding
a few lay dying
several birthing a new
creole gumbo