What Would La Malinche Say? ~By Elizabeth Jiménez Montelongo

An Indigenous woman

Kidnapped, enslaved

Sees a chance for revenge

To topple an empire

That abused her people

A stratified society

Of nobles and priests

Of macehualtin

Of warriors

Of slaves

Power-hoarding

Has no borders

Exploitation has no race

Abusers needed a population

Colonization needs settlers

To protect with an army

An army used to invade

Conquer, enslave, exploit

We didnt’t need more greed

We didn’t need more exploitation

But it was already here

Is La Malinalli to be blamed

for being a traitor?

La Malinche

La Chingada

Or was she really just a cabrona

To say, if her people could not be free

Then why should their captors be?

If my people are down

I’m being pushed down

Then you’re all going down with me

But in the end

She got away

One abuser to another

But she chose that path

Maybe she chose revenge

Maybe she chose for herself

A captive life closer to freedom

A life of servitude

But with more possibilities

She took a chance on what could be

She accepted the man

She accepted a role

She had her child

She changed history

She made her captors regret it

Maybe she had the last laugh.

©Elizabeth Jiménez Montelongo for Palabras con Alas. All rights reserved