Around Thanksgiving, Maestra Vega started socializing an upcoming fourth grade poetry assignment: Memorize and recite 25 lines of poetry in Spanish. No cue cards. No help. It can be one or two poems. Plus utilize all of your best presentation skills such as eye contact, projecting your voice, hand movements. No um’s.
Of course we pick our favorite poem about a kid getting eaten by a giant snake. Jake starts in with his usual woe is me business and the entire world creating impossible tasks and his old school (aka first grade) being so much easier. Every week he has a bit of a panicky “How many more days until my poems?” “Mom, I think it’s today.” “Mom, I’m sure it’s tomorrow!” (Meanwhile he hadn’t even gotten the assignment yet…)
And once the wave of crazy has passed, he buckles down. We practice in the shower. We practice in the car. We learn these two poems so quickly that when el 29 de enero (January 29th) comes around, we totally forget it’s The. Big. Day.
I pick Jacob up that evening from school and he casually mentions, “Oh yeah, Mom. Today was my poem day.”
“Oh sheesh. How’d it go?”
“Great. So easy.”
And the note from Maestra Vega confirms– an enthusiastic ¡Excelente!
Aye niño.
Boa Constrictora
Por Shel Silverstein
Traducida por Jesús y Rhonda Garcia
Me devora una boa constrictora,
Una boa constrictora
Una boa constrictora.
Me devora una boa constrictora,
Y no me agrada para nada.
Ándale pues,
Está en mis pies.
Madre mía,
Está en mi rodilla.
Qué lindura,
¿Está en mi cintura?
¿Que ha hecho?
¡Está en mi pecho!
¡Mira aquello!
¡Está en mi cuello!
¡Ay! que loco,
¡Se come mi cocoooo!
El Monstruo Grotesco
Por Shel Silverstein
¿Qué es aquello qu se ve
por la niebla aparecer?
Es el monstruo grotesco,
que anda por ahí suelto.
Si su cola tan larga es,
¿de qué tamaño puede ser
este monstruo grotesco
que anda por ahí suelto?
