In First Place
By Reid Baer


I was 19 and green
as a missionary
in South America
trying to be very
good walking the land of
Simón Bolívar with
a compañero from
Columbia who just
could not speak English and
I strained – oh how it pained
me to pay attention
to his conversations
in Spanish with locals
as best I could and the
harshest reality
was that I knew I should
hope not to be really
heard myself but to bend
my gringo ears to each
foreign sound or word ‘til
my head ached and it was
me – me that understood.
-


¿Qué habla usted?, A jeni të flas?, وماذا عن الكلام؟, 你怎么说？, Co si o tom promluvit?, Wat spreekt u?, Mida te räägite?, Ano ang gagawin mo?, Mitä puhut?, Que voulez-vous parler?, Was sprechen Sie?, Πώς σου μιλήσω;, 話は何ですか？, 말하는 게 뭐야?, Che cosa si parla?, Hva snakker du?, O que vocês falam?, Co pan mówi?, Что вы говорите?, คุณพูดอะไร?, Konuşmak Ne?,
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