In one of the classes this afternoon, a student asked me about a book. GUIDE TO GRAMMAR BY EDDIE MURPHY. It was really by another Murphy. But I thanked her for the gift.I could hardly contain my imagination. The ESL chapter could be called COMING TO AMERICA. Other film titles could control the chapter themes.
One of the artisans in the earlier class had asked me why I would volunteer my vacation time to help them. I respond a simple, it’s fun.
But the real reason is (almost) free and sometimes abundant gifts such as the Eddie Murphy grammar guide.
The lady in the sandwich shop looks at my legs streaked in white. They look dry. I want to explain that while mosquitoes don’t seem to pay attention to Oaxacans, they find me even with all of these streaks of mosquito spray on my skin. I also may seem to have chicken pox for all of the red welts on my skin.
Miguel asks why I do not sit on the patio anymore. He knows I enjoy it. I explain that the mosquitoes are just waiting for that.
He tells me that mosquitoes are family members. We share blood.
- Receive the mosquito, the misunderstanding, the irritated skin, as you would a gift. See how Rodney Jones does this in his “The Mosquito.” The end follows here:
I watch her strut like an udder with my blood,Imagining the luminous pick descending into Trotsky’s skull and the eleven daysI waited for the cold chill, nightmare, and nightsweat of malaria;Imagining the mating call in the vibrations of her wings,And imagining, in the simple knot of her ganglia,How she thrills to my life, how she sings for the harvest.Read the rest at: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/51742/the-mosquito-56d22faf940de
