The Contract Says: We’d Like the Conversation to Be Bilingual

Limón uses irony, a form of humor in verse that expresses the opposite of the intended meaning, to discuss her experiences as a female author of color. The speaker of the poem is characterized as a powerful publisher, asking questions of an author presumed to be Limón (see: Contextual Analysis), before they enter a contractual agreement with one another. The speaker is arrogant and insensitive from the onset of the poem, asking Limón to bring her “brown- / ness so we can be sure to please // the funders” (Lines 1-3), revealing that Limón has significantly less power than the speaker in this dynamic. The speaker consistently uses the pronoun “we,” putting distance between themselves and Limón through this acknowledgement of monetary and racial difference. The speaker feels entitled to Limón’s “brown- / ness” (Lines 1-2), abusing her diverse background to fill a quota. Limón is asked to “check this / box” (Lines 3-4) because the publishing house is “applying for a grant” (Line 4), making it clear that the publisher is only interested in printing diverse stories as a way for them to appear more inclusive to their investors. Much of Limón’s work is autobiographical (see: Contextual Analysis), so by using irony as a subversion technique by writing as the voice that so often talks down to her, she exposes the performative activism authors like herself frequently encounter.

In Stanzas 3-5, the speaker begins to ask increasingly invasive questions about Limón’s experiences as a minority, shaped by the racist stereotypes the speaker presumes to be fact. Limón uses a combination of enjambment and caesura (see: Literary Devices) to create tension as the speaker asks:

Do you have any poems that speak

to troubled teens? Bilingual is best.

Would you like to come to dinner

with the patrons and sip Patrón?

Will you tell us the stories that make

us uncomfortable, but not complicit (Lines 5-10)?

Here, Limón exposes that while the rhetoric of racism is subtle in the professional world, it is still extremely present and harmful. The speaker assumes that because Limón is Mexican American, she must have a “troubled” (Line 6) past, and she must speak and write Spanish fluently. The connection to Latinx writers becomes even more apparent after the speaker asks if Limón will “come to dinner / with the patrons and sip Patrón” (Lines 7-8), a notable Mexican tequila. Limón reveals that large publishing houses are willing to profit off of their writers of color without any accountability for the canon’s history of racial discrimination (see: Themes).

The speaker shifts from passive “we’d like” and “would you like” language, to outright commands, telling Limón what she can and cannot put in her manuscript. The speaker unceremoniously says: “don’t read the one where you / are just like us” (Lines 11-12), instead asking Limón to “tell us the one // about your father stealing hubcaps” (Lines 16-17). Limón purposefully includes this “us versus them” rhetoric to underscore how racism still effects every industry today. The speaker makes many blanket assumptions about Limón’s childhood and family, founded on racist stereotypes that Mexicans are “dirty,” impoverished, thieves, and not to be trusted (see: Symbols & Motifs).

In the final stanzas of the poem, Limón returns to the image of her father. The speaker insists that she doesn’t mention that her father “was a teacher, spoke English, loved / making beer, loved baseball” (Lines 23-24), in an attempt to capitalize on her differences to the predominantly white audience (see: Symbols & Motifs). Limón argues that minority writers are often led to hyperbolize their own experiences in order to make themselves more marketable. By speaking as the publisher in power, Limón makes readers aware of the fact that racial stereotypes run deep in the fabric of American society. Limón, the author figure in the poem, is silent for the entire piece. She never responds to the speaker’s questions or commands, exposing the dilemma many authors of color face: Racial tokenism disguised as inclusivity still means being published.