Poetry: “Abecedarian with Barack Obama” by Camilo Loaiza Bonilla
For the children of immigrants to America, seeing their parents become citizens can open an envelope full of mixed feelings. The speaker of Camilo Loaiza Bonilla’s poem, in “Loose & flawed Spanglish,” relays congratulations from Barack Obama to his mother on becoming a “New American Dream.” The abecedarian form is aptly used here to highlight differences in language between the letter’s contents and the mother’s native Spanish. In a way, it also evokes the formal nature of a government letter: formulaic, yet in Obama’s time, still “counter to current / Xenophobia.” The translation of the letter’s last line by the speaker is of particular interest here.
Read Loaiza Bonilla’s poem below.
Abecedarian with Barack Obama
A letter arrives for my mother from
Barack Obama in 2011. Mamá, es para
Ciudadanos nuevos, I explain.
“Dear Fellow American” quiere decir
Estimado americano. I swallow
“Fellow,” but she doesn’t notice. Keep
Going, she nudges. “I am honored”—Obama está
Honorado. I use words we
Invent as we go along.
Just when I think I’ve lost her, she nods,
Knowing. “To congratulate you”—para celebrar usted.
Loose & flawed Spanglish—how else to tell
My mother Obama thinks she’s a
New American Dream?
“On becoming” es que ya eres—“a citizen”—no sé la
Palabra, pero que ya eres una citizen. I expect
Questions about my half-translations, but she
Responds with just a nod—moves closer to better
Study the letter—looks at me with
Tired eyes. La carta acaba con—“Of the”—de los—
“United States of America”—estados unidos—almost
Victorious. The last of Obama’s
Words run counter to current
Xenophobia. “We welcome”—Obama da bienvenida a—
“You”—nosotros—“to the American family”—entonces la familia Loai
Za Bonilla ya es americana.
Camilo Loaiza Bonilla
Camilo Loaiza Bonilla (he/him/él) is a Latine writer working to unwind generational silence as a queer, trans, first-generation immigrant. He received his MFA in Creative Writing from the University of South Florida, and, with support from Macondo Writers Workshop, Tin House, and Black Lawrence Press, his work is in or forthcoming from Hayden’s Ferry Review, Quarterly West, Graywolf Lab, and elsewhere. Exploring the intersection of poetry and visual art, he is the 2025-2026 Eleanor Merritt Fellow at The John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art.
