Where Are You From?

Where I’m from?
Yes we still have horse drawn calashes
They strut malnourished horses
And drivers that do not care about hygiene and grooming
In a world where aluminum and fiber glass horses roam the streets
We still ride around with flesh and wood.
Take a look at the carriage
See the paint peel off from years,
Nay, decades of overuse

Where I’m from?
Yes, we have houses on trees
We even have trees in houses,
And houses small enough to be lifted
By a small community, how embarrassing right?
We even have people acting as monkeys
Getting coconuts by climbing up coconut trees
without and safety equipment, just like the apes.

Where I’m from?
Yes, we seem to raise people to become
Domestic Helpers to feed your kids
Sea Farers to import and export your goods
Carpenters to build your houses and buildings
Janitors to keep your businesses clean
We BREED these kinds of people, yes I know.
We do not seem to breed executives, managers, CEO’s
That’s where you’re from

Where I’m from?
Yes, some of our public transportation vehicles
Will not pass the crash test
Even the drivers, who are similar to the calash drivers
Will not pass the driving test
It’s the same old shit, but now,
They have mechanized horses
Boasting 3,500 HP:
That’s 3,500 malnourished calash horses out of their misery.

Where I’m from?
Yes, it’s a blessing to earn a Bachelors degree
But it’s a rarity for many to receive a high school diploma
While spokening in dollars are a hard to come from
And the meaning of life is how cute the host of a noontime talk show is
While the most important thing in this world is too deep that it causes a nosebleed.

Where I’m from?
Yes, those that cannot afford to live like monkeys in trees
Live in steel, wood and cardboard boxes
Stolen from a salvage yard, that makes those
Aluminum and steel mechanized calashes.
And yes, they even place these houses on illegal areas,
Like say, under the flyovers
And by the side of the humongous canal we call a river.
I know what it’s called: Squatterdom

Do you really want to know where I’m from?
Because that calash driver brings you around
And shows you grandeur:
The palaces, the cathedrals, the cobblestone streets,
The parks, the monasteries; the city at its best.
And he does it with a smile,
Knowing that you will take pictures and memories
And place them in your box,
Under your warm, comfortable bed,
While he goes home, to his steel and wood shanty,
With only one full meal to share with his eight children.

Because maybe, just maybe,
Our tree houses have wi-fi, and cable television,
And a Playstation 3, and a Plasma Television, and Surround Sound
And most of all, we have goddamn coconuts.
We have people who are agile and crazy enough
to climb a tree to get those crazed coconuts,
We even have people who help other people move houses
Hell, the whole community gets involved!

Because blue collar workers
Are unsung heroes
Because they make sure your ass does not get infected
By your own genital warts when you take a shit in the toilet.
Because they will actually change your children’s diapers.
And that makes them more qualified mothers than you.
Why do you think we are so overpopulated?
They sacrifice living away from their families
Their sacrifice is your comfort.
For every scrub, for every diaper,
For every bar of soap used
For every bottle of milk consumed
Is a child, halfway around the world,
With a full stomach of hard earned food
Kneeling on her bedside, talking to God, saying,
Thank you Mama, thank you Papa.

Because our public utility vehicles
Are moving works of art.
And we are free to choose
Which art movement we want
Pop Art, Realism, Minimalism,
Or Dadaism?
And they are cheap, very cheap.
They are moving, running museums.
They rock.

Because our education system is hard
How many subjects can one person possibly take?
And, how high can you possibly make the passing rate to be?
Because we take pride in school, only the best get to finish.
We may not have many geniuses, but we know
How to oust an official when the shit gets out of hand
Without spilling blood.
Twice.

Because we can build our own houses,
without money, or formal training,
We find ways of doing the seemingly impossible.
Impossible to take the stench of a polluted river?
Impossible to build a house small enough for one
But can accommodate ten? I think not!
Where I’m from, impossible is nothing!

Where I’m from?
We are Hospitable
We are Creative
We have a sense of Community
We are Ingenious
We Sacrifice
We revere Hardship
We have Hope
We have a Voice

This is where I’m from.
Where are you from?