WHERE IS YOUR ACCENT FROM

Words by N. Luna 
Art by Claudia Tong 

My accent is from my grandmother's front yard. She grew it in cement pots along with her roses and snails. 

My accent is from the corn leaf that wraps the boyos de yuca I so badly miss. 

I saw this accent sitting on a bench and picked it up. Finders keepers. 

-Oh, you meant a place? 

My accent is from Colombia, it was originally discovered in the pollen of hibiscus flowers and later in the petals of orchids. But now it can be synthesized in a laboratory and they put it in your coffee. 

It's from Soledad, Atlántico. The special ingredient in the butifarras. 

My accent is from teenage years interrupted by migration, from feeling displaced and being displaced. 

My accent is from a rainy June 6th at JFK airport. 

My accent is from Brooklyn. You can get it at the bodega on a bacon, egg, and cheese. You can also get it if you fall asleep on the 5 train because you're going to the last stop anyways; plus the universe sent you a sign that she wants you to rest by presenting you with an empty seat next to a window during rush hour. (Be aware that such long train naps will do wonders for your mental health but your neck will be devastated.) 

My accent is from the transition between Sunset Park and Bay Ridge, where diversity meets gentrification. 

I sound like this because the words are coming from this body: colonized, and forced to assimilate. The color of my skin helping me get by. Until I speak and the foreignness oozes out of my dimples and into people's ears. 

My accent is from the LA river and the Glendale mall. I could have bought it at any random taqueria or maybe at the dollar store. I got some of it from the tamales lady who would park in my block and sing "Hay tamales". 

My English is broken because so is my heart. Wherever I am, it's never home. 

My accent is from my ancestors’ blood boiling in my veins every time you tell me to go back to my country 

My accent is from here, from this moment in which you judge me. 

It's from a wawa cup of coffee and from Gritty's costume sweat. I started talking in this accent after eating a pretzel in front of the Amor sign. 

My accent is first and foremost none of your business.

Artist Claudia Tong