I lost my talk
The talk you took away.
When I was a little girl
At Shubenacadie school.
You snatched it away:
I speak like you
I think like you
I create like you
The scrambled ballad, about my word.
Two ways I talk
Both ways I say,
Your way is more powerful.
So gently I offer my hand and ask,
Let me find my talk
So I can teach you about me.
How can you speak your truth in a language you don't understand?
Two pathways for a writing exercise:
a. If you, or someone in your class, knows another language, try translating the poem. How does this translation exercise help you to understand the poem better?
b. If you don’t speak another language, imagine what it would be like to have English taken from you. How would you order lunch? How would you explain to a doctor about a stomachache? Express your own feelings? Write about what that might feel like.
Rita Joe, “I Lost My Talk,” from Song of Eskasoni. Copyright © 2007 by the Estate of Rita Joe. Reprinted by permission of the Estate of Rita Joe.
Source: The Blind Man’s Eyes (Breton Books, 2015)