Mujan Me / deborah lombardo

I stand before you – the Many Me’s
In order of appearance:
Portuguese-Italian, English-Irish, Black, Pequot

I always knew I was an Indian
I NEVER wanted the Cowboys to win
Before I’d ever heard of Pequots
I figured I was part St. David’s Island Mohawk
The Indian misnomer
The part that could never be enslaved

My great-grandmother, Sarah
Omitted from mention by my mother’s generation
I never suffered on your behalf
I thank you for my Blackness
For the joy and music which fills my soul
My dancer and my rhythm – always free

My Sicilian Italian me, incurably romantic
This the heritage I decided to claim as a child
After all Michaelangelo was Italian
Latin, the mother of all European languages
And the Mafia soooo very dangerous
I claimed Uncle Joe “The Hobo” Lombardo

My Portuguese – Azoreans – and Island people too
Insular and suspicious; stereotyped hardworking
But true, I’ve never been afraid to get my hands dirty
Hell, I didn’t know I was a Portagee until I was 13
(That eighth really counted back then)
My thanks to the Pony Club girls who pointed this out to me

Ah, then there’s the Irish me – always lucky
A short and scrappy survivor
I wished I’d inherited my Nana’s voice
Then I wouldn’t have missed my calling as a singer

My whiteness, poor white, allow me to clarify, for Bermudian purposes
Designated for recrimination through lack of money
And “real” British whiteness
Inhibited me not much, and now
Well, Hah, as a woman of a certain age
I now know who I am
Black Jo, Inky Dink,and KaiYai – that’s me – a ‘Mujan

•••