Yo Soy Latino Poem From My Book "Songs From The Barrio"

This is a poem I wrote several years ago and it departs a little from the kind of poems I normally write, which are free verse with little or no rhyme. I always enjoy the "sound" of words, word-play and I try to capture some of this when I read.

I love to incorporate Spanish words and phrases into my work because the Spanish language has its own intrinsic beauty in the vowels, and multi-syllabled words. The poem sets out to define what a Latino is, to destroy myths and stereotypes. It is one of the poems sprinkled between the stories which make up my book.