Agustina Van Thienen
Spanglish
Dejo que el inglés
invada mis pensamientos
tiña mis oraciones
saboreo las palabras en español
saliva la boca / desesperada
no define su textura / las palabras
se pierden / salen frías en un idioma
que no es el de mi madre
Translation:
I let spanish
invade my thoughts
dye my sentences
I savor the english words
the mouth salivates / desperate
texture defined / the words
easily found / they come out hot
unfamiliar to english-speaking ears
Translation:
I let english
vanish from my thoughts
bleach itself from my speech
I savor the words in spanish
the mouth salivates / embarrassed
no texture defined / the words
escape from my brain / they fail to come out cold
in a language those ears understand
Translation:
Dejo que el ingles
desaparezca de mis pensamientos
se destiña de mis oraciones
saboreo las palabras en español
seca la boca / avergonzada
sin textura definida / las palabras
se me escapan de la cabeza / no salen frías
en un idioma que sus orejas entienden
Translation:
Dejo que el español
desaparezca de mis pensamientos
se destiña de mis oraciones
saboreo las palabras en inglés
saliva la boca / resiste
no define la textura / las palabras
se pierden / salen frías en un idioma
que no es el de mi tierra natal
Translation:
I let spanish
invade my thoughts
conquer my sentences
savor the english words
dry the mouth / maleducada
no texture defined / words
get lost / they come out piping hot
in a language those ears don’t understand
Translation:
I let spanish
vanish from my thoughts
bleach itself from my sentences
I savor the words in english
salivates the mouth / rejection
no texture defined / the words
get lost / they come out cold in a language
that is not my motherland’s
Translation:
I let English and Spanish
escape mind from
time to time mouth
forgets / can’t define
words / salen como pueden
incorrectamente / salen tibias
in a mejunje i can’t fight
Bio
Agustina Van Thienen is a poet and translator from Buenos Aires, Argentina. She is an MFA student at The New School and has been living in NYC for four years. Since moving countries her writing centers around language, displacement and adaptation. Her work has previously appeared in Papers Publishing and The Inquisitive Eater.