My father speaks Urdu

language of dancing peacocks

rosewater fountains

even its curses are beautiful.

He speaks Hindi

suave and melodic

earthy Punjabi

salty rich as saag paneer

coastal Kiswahili

laced with Arabic,

he speaks Gujarati

solid ancestral pride.

Five languages

five different worlds

yet English

shrinks

him

down

before white men

who think their flat cold spiky words

make the only reality.

PATEL, S. Migritude. San Francisco: Kaya Books, 2010.