Revelations: Lengua

I. Taste buds grow all over the mouth.
Especially on the tongue, but also the gums, inside sinuses.
Babies have them on the insides of their cheeks.
This means, that when you have had your tongue
excised
you can still taste fresh tortillas
coagulating between lip and gum.

II. When God first came to the island,
we had called it home for centuries,
and when He first told us to convert,
He assumed that we would understand Him
since He was speaking the language of Gospel,
the tongue installed in every human being.

III. In Spanish, the word for tongue and language is lengua.
From the Latin: lingua.
Tongues sliced out at the ligament
separated the word from, literally,
language,
which eventually disappeared as well.

IV.There is no Taino word for language.
Not one that has survived.
Not one that I have found.
The words that have survived are these:
Taino[1]
daca[2]

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[1] adjective. ‘Good,’ or ‘Good People.’ Taino language sextext break down: “Tai”=”Good” and “No”=”People”

[2] pronoun. ‘I am.’

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Tori Cárdenas is a trans poet of genízaro/boriquen descent, and graduated from the University of New Mexico in 2014 with Bachelors in Poetry and History, and again in 2020 with a Masters in Poetry. Cárdenas also served as Poetry Editor and Editor in Chief of Blue Mesa Review, and as Executive Editor for Skull + Wind Press. Their work has appeared in Witchcraft Magazine, Cloudthroat, and VICE and is forthcoming in Open Minds Quarterly.