What Ma can’t hear in English
she just may hear in Spanish.
Luckily my brother & I speak
enough Spanish to toggle
from English
to Spanglish
as the need arises
& it arises
more & more
as Ma ages
& through this mix
of tongues, Ma is able
to distinguish one word
from the inevitable next.
What she understands,
fully understands,
I can’t—in any language—say.